In my opinion, this is not one of Foster's better designs. There is something not pleasing about it.
^Yeah, it is ungracefuly, looks like it is unstable, and for all its size doesn't really soar but sort of crouches both down and in on itself.
It does please the "we're big, bad, don't screw with us" crowd though.
Those funiculars up the sides would've been something to see though!
Bob I think everyone wants the FT to succeed, including me, but sometimes what sounds good in a conference room or a magazine (like the torque, or the spire, or the windmills, or the lattice) just doesn't work out on the ground. The question is, will Childs figure that out in time or blunder on through with some kind of computer-generated compromise? Right now the future isn't looking bright.
The name "Freedom Tower" is silly, and New York deserves a better and more dignified name for its new signature building. Foster's towers were better than the Libeskind plan, bolder, but are a memory. Let's move on.
Gosh, that rendering depicts a building that will surely be more reviled than the twin towers ever were. It's ashame to spend so much money on such a big mistake. Where is the sour grapes coalition when you need them? Now, HERE's a project I wish they would sue the LMDC to stop!
A friend of mine who dabbles in psychology has told me that the building could very well be psychologically depressing. The hard angles, the sharp corners, the crystalline massiveness: the original Twin Towers at least attempted to correct these problems with chamfered corners and a less spartanly-metallic alloy. I'm not sure if the "Freedom Tower" is going to be any less austere.
I also agree that the name is quite silly. "Freedom Tower" just sounds too...I'm hesitant to say "American" but it is too ostentatiously patriotic. New York is renowned worldwide for balancing its role as a showcase American city with its international identity. Constructing a skyscraper called the "Freedom Tower," especially in this day and age, is just turning back inwards and is counterproductive to that image. Whatever is built should also celebrate New York's status as a city of the world, not simply another big American city.
Instead of the 'Freedom Tower' why not called the 'World Trade Center'
It is obvious. :roll:
July 9, 2004
Cornerstone Grammar
To the Editor:
Re "A 9/11 Cornerstone, Chiseled With a New York Accent," by David W. Dunlap (Blocks column, July 8):
The section of the 9/11 cornerstone inscription depicted in the accompanying photograph clearly shows that the grammatically necessary comma after "2001" ("on September 11, 2001") is absent.
As a longtime editor, I hope that the artisans will be able to correct this omission in the handsome Gotham typeface.
BETSY WADE
New York, July 8, 2004
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
Not much room... :?
Maybe they need a recomendation on this... some help on this problem:
Eats, Shoots & Leaves:
The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
by Lynne Truss
LOL.. there's no comma after "fourth," either..
It really dosnt matter....does it?
dont make no cents whut yall tockin bout? punkchewayshun aint dun me no good÷
Of course it matters. We don't want to look stupid, do we? Also, why did the "powers that be" decide to spell out "FOURTH." I don't believe I've ever seen a date written in that manner. For example, one does not ordinarily see "January First 2004".Originally Posted by ILUVNYC
I noticed the 'fourth' bit as well. The common usage is 'the Fourth of July,' so I can't be absolutely against it, although keeping with the convention in the above inscription would seem to be the rule.
Kind of makes it sound like those lives were lost as a tribute to the enduring spirit of freedom. :shock:A copy of the pared-down text was read to the governor.
"He wholeheartedly agreed with the less-is-more approach," said Lisa Dewald Stoll, Mr. Pataki's communications director. He asked that the text be circulated to ensure that everyone was comfortable with it. "The governor's only specific request was that we remove the names," Ms. Stoll said. There went the Honorable George E. Pataki, the Honorable James E. McGreevey and the Honorable Michael R. Bloomberg.
Larry A. Silverstein, the developer of the tower, was enthralled with the final version of the text, said Howard Rubenstein, a spokesman for Mr. Silverstein. At the Innovative Stone yard and factory in Hauppauge, on Long Island, the granite block was polished by Josveek Huligar and engraved by John Garafolo.
"To honor and remember those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001 and as a tribute to the enduring spirit of freedom," the cornerstone says. "July Fourth 2004."
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