11 replies to this topic

[balletmama]

Have been looking over the new designs and am wondering what people on these boards think.  It's hard for me to tell whether all the designs provide for performance spaces; some mention this, others don't but seem to include open areas and other gathering places that might serve the purpose.  I guess that for me reviving the area might mean putting up a tall building or a secure one or one with good transportation access, but it especially means a place where people will gather for all kinds of recreation.  Any thoughts?  Which design gets your vote?

[OCBalletMom]

Just looking at the pictures and short descriptions, my first choice would be the Peterson/Littenberg design with the open spaces.  2nd choice would be the THINK team steel towers but only because it most closely replicates the old skyline without replacing the twin towers.  Last choice is the tic-tac-to building.  Definitely can't see that one on a post card.

[atm711]

Yesterday I went to the 'Winter Garden' to see the seven new models for the WTC site.  This is a space I visited often before 911 for small concerts and restaurants, and just to enjoy the beautiful atrium.  It was my first  visit back, and also my first look at the so-called ground zero, which I viewed from within the 'Winter Garden' -- which was once joined to the WTC by an enclosed bridge.  I feel that the Lower Manhattan Design Center has put too many restraints on the architects--i.e., "preserving the footprints of the Twin Towers for memorial related space, restoring a powerful, tall symbol in the lower Manhattan skyline..."  I found the preservation of the footprints in all the designs depressing and morbid.  I think it is time for the politicians to remove themselves from the project (ha!, what a case).  Two or three of the designs were particularly insensitive for this site--the buildings curved towards one another, and at certain angles looked like they were about to collapse.

[Mel Johnson]

Yes, there was one complex of buildings that had buildings in it that looked vaguely like rigatoni on end!:rolleyes:

[MJ]

[political comment deleted by A.T.]

One of the Plans for ground Zero includes an Opera House where the US HQ of Deutches Bank was (I think). The building is structurally intact, but mold from the water damage has made the building uninhabitable.

The NYC Opera is looking to move somewhere, into their own opera house. A memorial opera house containing 2900+ seats would be a great one. Is that too big for an opera house?

MJ

[JaneD]

The husband of a friend of mine is part of the Fosters team.

I've yet to see their house .....

Jane

[Alexandra]

A reminder -- please keep to the art and leave the politics out of it, on this and any other thread on this forum.

Thanks!

[PK]

As of today the new plan has been chosen.There is mention of several cultural buildings  below office spaces.I'll be waiting to see what the 9-11 families feel about this choice.

[citibob]

THINK.  It is a redemptive design, making something of beauty out of a tragedy.  Liebeskind wallows in the tragedy, making the look of fallen shards permanent.

[Ed Waffle]

Quote

Originally posted by MJ
The NYC Opera is looking to move somewhere, into their own opera house. A memorial opera house containing 2900+ seats would be a great one. Is that too big for an opera house?

MJ

I think it is the right size for New York City's "other" opera house (the Met seats about 3800). It could be designed to be intimate enough so that Mozart and Handel works aren't lost on a huge stage but still large enough for the Triumphal March in Aida.

At the same time it wouldn't be necessary to sell quite so many tickets--3800 seats is a lot to fill week in and week out for months.

[Mel Johnson]

The THINK design looks like a tinkertoy construction connected by a sanitary napkin!

[Watermill]

I find the chosen design tremendously cluttered & conflicted as it multi-tasks its way to nowhere in a hurry.  
Hmmm....
On second thought: that seems like a pretty good definition for the state of mind the country seems to be in.

I guess we are what we build and we build what we are.

But I will surely miss the elegantly simple gothic modernism of the originals. I guess I'm in a "less is more" frame of mind about this, and see this design as a classic example of "more is less".

But cheers for the art and performance spaces!