Downtown Skyline

[JMGarcia]

Great view!

[Agglomeration]

It's really painful to look at, this flat-looking view. :sad: Frankly I want something big to come back to the skyline. I prefer new Twin Towers, but I'd be ready for the Freedom Tower if it was impressive enough.

[fvcrew22]

great pictures, I love the downtown skyline.

[Jasonik]

Quote: from Christian Wieland on 5:03 am on Nov. 10, 2002
Still pretty damn flabbergasting, but that chunky complex calls for something to bully it.

Perfectly said, whatever is built needs MASS, not just height. *The WFC was designed proportionate to the WTC, now that void needs to be filled by reverse engineering a ROBUST complex.

[NyC MaNiAc]

Agreed, Jason.

Downtown is still looking great, but I say again, it's not getting the attention it deserves. What other big project, besides of course the new WTC, has been announced, or proposed?

While I can name MANY for Midtown only one comes to mind for Downtown. One New York Place. And the last time I heard information on that one was months ago.

We can't let Downtown construction stop like it has. Lower Manhattan still has a lot of unused potential and growth, yet I can't help but feel Downtown is getting no love...There hasn't been real construction there in more then a decade.

Not to be funny (Not in the least because it is not a funny issue at all) but more buildings have been taken down then they have been put up in Downtown in the last 10 years...

Let's hope the construction of the new WTC, whatever it is, and 7 WTC allows Downtown to get moving again.

[DougGold]

Problem is that without the twin towers, the skyline is imposing but not distinctive. Could be any city. Could be a bunch of buildings in Boston or Chicago. We lost our signature.

[JCMAN320]

Your absolutely right Doug.

[Chicagoan]

Coming into the Island, before and after 9/11 one senses a very different skyline. Yes Downtown's skyline is imposing, but it now lacks bearing and hierarchy. Despite what wa sposted here, Chicago's skyline is very distinctive and it does have hierarchy. The buildings "crowd" around three towers, Sears, Aon, and John Hancock.

Manhattan has lost this. *From Newark, you cannot tell where downtown is anymore. When arriving into the island, you can tell where midtown is, but not downtown. And from the harbour or ESB your eyes are not drawn to "a point" in downtown. But building something tall there will remedy that.

(Edited by Chicagoan at 9:41 pm on June 30, 2003)

[NYatKNIGHT]

Yes, downtown badly needs a distinctive peak, though I disagree it has to be equally as massive as the twin towers were. I am worried that the current plan is insufficient though, but it seems like the plan is far from settled.

[DougGold]

I may be morbidly optimistic, but the more time drags on, the more people are talking about changing the "winning" WTC design. Sure, let's move the Freedom Tower over. Whatever. I hope they tweak it and tweak it for whatever reason until we get something better.

[NYatKNIGHT]

Me too, but it could just as easily be tweaked and tweaked until it is mediocre at best.

(Edited by NYatKNIGHT at 3:31 pm on July 1, 2003)

[DougGold]

And how would that be a change, exactly?

[NyC MaNiAc]

Ouch...That was harsh, Doug.

Seriously, I couldn't agree more. IT was NyC's signature.

Let's play a little game. I think of a city, you think of the first building that comes to mind.

Chicago: Sears
Kuala Lumpar:Petronas
San Fran: Transamerica

My point is if you were to say NYC in this game, you'd think of the Twins(Or the ESB, yes, but after 9/11 all we can think about are the Twin Towers)

I just can't see putting anything other then the signature I remember...The Twin Towers.

[NYatKNIGHT]

Quote: from DougGold on 6:42 pm on July 1, 2003
And how would that be a change, exactly?

I know what you're saying, you see it as mediocre now, okay, but believe me they can pare it down way worse than it is. Design by committee (pleasing everyone) leads to mediocrity at best. When opposing groups hall have their say, the design doesn't usually get more daring. But hey, I hope you are right Doug.

[dbhstockton]

NYC has a long history of "design by committee." *The best examples are Rockefeller Center and Lincoln Center.