The Geodesic Economy: "World Peace Through Free Trade"

[Trei, Peter]

> R. A. Hettinga[SMTP:rah at shipwright.com] wrote:
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> I wonder what people, especially from New York City, think about the
> new proposals for Lower Manhattan and World Trade Center site that
> came out this week.
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> <http://www.lowermanhattan.info/rebuild/new_design_plans/>
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> 
My qualifications: I lived in NYC when I was a little kid, and in
Manhattan from the end of college until I moved to Massachusetts
14 years ago. I used to work at 101 Barclay Street, directly across
the street from 7 WTC. I've been up the towers many times - I used
to take friends from out of town up to the observatory, and dates to
Windows on the World. I'd visit the concourse for lunch, and hang
out at a bar halfway up the north tower after work.

What do I think? I think they're one hell of a lot better than the
first batch, which came out last summer. They lowered the 
square footage mandated, and told the companies to be a lot
more imaginative.

One thing I liked in particular was that most of the designs
weren't afraid to go high into the sky this time around. Building
high is an expression of confidence. The WTC was a landmark
for a huge part of the city; you could see it easily from most
of midtown and downtown.

I like the Foster design best. The SOM, Libeskind, and United 
Architects designs are also very good. The THINK and Peterson
designs leave me kind of cold. I don't much like the Richard Meier
(tictactoe) design.

I worry about designs which require a huge amount of maintenance
(Libeskind's sky forests), which I can't see being maintained more
than a decade or so, or which devote so much to memorial that 
40 years from now they will seem over the top (Foster has a huge
area which is supposed to be restricted to victim's family members).

My own initiial idea was to rebuild the towers as they were, but in
goldtone instead of silver. Now, I'd like to be a little more respectful
of the pre-WTC street grid (If you weren't actually going to the WTC,
it was a huge obstacle to get around, either driving or on foot). But I
still want towers which rise far above the skyline.

Peter