Les nouveaux plans: World Trade Center
Yesterday morning, a few of the world’s most renowned architects displayed their proposals for the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site. These were the second set of proposals, after the first set from the firm of Beyer Blinder Belle were resoundingly rejected over the summer. These seven new proposals came from from Studio Daniel Libeskind; Foster & Partners; Richard Meier & Partners Architects, Eisenman Architects, Gwathmey Siegel & Associates, Steven Holl Architects; THINK Team; United Architects; Peterson Littenberg Architecture; and Skidmore Owings & Merrill.
After seeing each of the proposals only briefly, my gut reaction was to favor the proposal by Foster & Partners. There’s something very poetic about his twinned towers “that kiss and touch and become one.” But then I harken back to my days in the U.K. when every architect and his/her mother liked nothing better than to criticize Lord Foster with his ‘wobbly’ Millennium Bridge.
The second proposal to catch my eye was from United Architects. I admit it; I’m a sucker for a powerful image.
The rest were of some interest but nothing too engaging. Then I went to bed, woke up and had a fresh look at the coverage from the NY Times, CNN, and the LMDC this morning.
Today’s appraisal: there’s some element I like from almost every proposal, but in none of the proposals do I like everything. I like Daniel Libeskind’s ‘wedges of light’ and sunken bedrock memorial, but it all appears a little too chaotic (even for New York). Foster’s visitors memorial and family memorial are also rather nice. But then again, in spite of the overall awkward tic-tac-toe appearance, Meier’s ‘memorial shadows’ are very nice idea.
I’d still like to see more of each of the proposals. Maybe one of the many architecture magazines will print a large collection of the work. This is definitely a project where it’s very easy to go wrong and very hard to be successful. But what more could an architect ask for, a good challenge…