Yesterday in Lower Manhattan (09/03/2011

[Beton Brut]

Pardon the shitty mobile pics - my point & shoot is on loan.

One World Trade Center - David Childs

Four World Trade Center - Fumihiko Maki

8 Spruce Street (Beekman Tower) - Frank Gehry

 

[kz1000ps]

Four WTC is shaping up to be pretty bland. Not so for One though -- the shape is just OK, but the skin is fine fine fine.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

I hate 4 WT. It's offensive that anything that boring should be built at this site.

 

[datadyne007]

Discovery Science just aired a documentary about the construction of the WTC memorial. More about the site, master plan, and One WTC are other parts of the series and will be airing during a marathon on 9/11.

 

[statler]

I love the Beekman Tower.

 

[Beton Brut]

I hate 4 WT. It's offensive that anything that boring should be built at this site.

Number Four is pretty generic. Maki's a great architect, but he missed a real opportunity here, perhaps by being too deferential to the taller neighboring towers. It's just too nondescript -- there are a dozen towers like it in Shinjuku. By striving for austerity, we get blandness. The folded form reminds me of Edward Larrabee Barnes' 599 Lexington Ave.

Beekman is the first Gehry that I've see that actually looks finished.