AP: Architect unveils details of Freedom Tower

[Eugene]

Architect unveils details of Freedom Tower

Artist's rendering - AP photo


By Amy Westfeldt, Associated Press Writer | June 29, 2006

NEW YORK --Glass prisms, landscaped plazas and a lighted spire meant
to resemble the Statue of Liberty's torch are all included in the latest
design of the skyscraper being built to replace the World Trade Center.

Architect David Childs unveiled the new design details of the 1,776-foot
Freedom Tower Wednesday at an American Institute of Architects ceremony
inside 7 World Trade Center, the skyscraper he designed that sits across
from ground zero.

Construction began this spring on the Freedom Tower, after a redesign more
than a year ago to address concerns it wasn't adequately protected
from truck bombs. The building was moved several feet back from the street
and made smaller, with a footprint the identical size of one of the twin
towers.

Some derided the windowless, 20-story concrete base that security officials
sought, saying it resembled more of a bunker than an office building.
Architects had originally thought that shimmering metal panels would cover
the bottom of the building, but recently decided on 13-foot-high panels
that combine triangular glass prisms.

<snip>

Full article: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/06/29/architect_unveils_details_of_freedom_tower
(Boston Globe - free registration may be required)

Also: Architects in New York unveil new Freedom Tower - Reuters

[LunaSea]

1. That's just a rendering, right?

It's not going to look like that when it's finished, right?
Really?
You're kidding. You're going to light it up like that?
&resize=w192
Were the words "Japanese paper lantern" uttered at any of the meetings?
No?
Then I probably won't say anything about that glowing sex toy I saw on the internets.
&resize=full

.....paging Christo...........

[bluestateguy]

2. It looks like something you inject in your arm

Hrmph!

[MADem]

4. A giant hypodermic needle....brilliant (NOT)

That thing is hideous. I don't live in NYC, so my word has no weight, but I'm not feeling the freedom in that tower....

[radwriter0555]

3. Utterly boring and mundane.... Santiago Calatrava should have been

the designer... then you would have had something to be astonished by and proud of... His tower in Malmo Sweden is perhaps the most brilliant piece of modern architecture on the planet today.



http://www.calatrava.com/

Or Gehry... nothing to sneeze at there either, but slightly more whimsical.

[papau]

5. Calatrava tower is perhaps called "screw"? n/t

n/t

[npincus]

6. Sir Norman Foster had the best of the original WTC design proposals

(my opinion)

Liebskind's was too delicate, fragmentary and more a signature piece for this architect. Sir Norman's was also (I read somewhere) overwhelmingly the most popular per the "votes" solicited from the public at the exhibition. Of course, what the public wanted did not rule the day, as advertised it would.

Of all proposals, Sir Norman's was the only that captured the mass, presence and spirit of the destroyed towers-- my opinion, of course. Forster was selected to design another tower on the site, Tower Two-- hopefully that decision has not changed.

Calatrava, your favorite, will design the PATH station terminal at the WTC- it looks pretty fabulous.

[Buns_of_Fire]

7. Kinda looks like a giant albino armadillo.

(Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course. I like armadillos!)