World Trade Center - Rebuilding idea (1 Viewer)

[Scott H]

On Letterman, Tuesday night, Bryant Gumble expressed what I thought was a fascinating idea/suggestion as to what to do in the aftermath at the World Trade Center site... Let the union workers who are adament about rebuilding do so. Build an exact replica in the exact same spot, empty and devoid of floors, restoring the NY skyline and serving as a monument. I think it may satisfy many issues, is somewhat defiant, and potentially remarkable.
It's doubtfully practical in consideration of real estate values there (and value has so many meaning here), we have more important issues to address right now, but I was rather taken with the idea and wished to share it here.
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[Inspector Hammer!]

Scott, with all due respect, I must say that that idea is, oh how would you say, RIDICULOUS!
You'll have these two huge stuctures sitting their that look like buildings but are not REALLY buildings!?! Uh huh.
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GOD BLESS THE U.S.A.!
[Edited last by John Williamson on September 19, 2001 at 03:25 AM]

 

[Scott H]

I can understand not caring for an idea, but, with all due respect, you must find a lot of structures "ridiculous"

Actually, I should add that my personal suggestion for such a concept might be that the lower floors would be used as much needed office space.
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[Edited last by Scott H on September 19, 2001 at 04:02 AM]

 

[Carl Johnson]

As we look back over history questions as to how and why marvels such as The Pyramids and Stonehenge came to be puzzle the mind, but a full scale replica of the WTC would dwarf those in comparison........

 

[Mark Leiter]

I think a much better idea would be to not only rebuild the towers, but to design and build a new tower complex that would once again create the grandest and tallest towers on Earth.
These new "World Trade Memorial Towers" would be a great honor to those that have fallen and would also show all the world that you can knock us down, but we will only come back stronger.
Mark

 

[Glenn Overholt]

And a few floors can be set aside for a ground to air missile defense system.
Glenn

 

[Hugh Jackes]

And include one or two of those Tim Burtonesque outer shells of the destroyed buildings that we are seeing in the news coverage. Obviously, they should be reinforced for safety, but otherwise left as much alone as possible. The remaining bits of the old WTC, left standing at the site, would serve as a fittin memorial.

 

[Jack Briggs]

This is the time to build something completely new at that site. I say go for the biggest, tallest building in the world. And call that the World Trade Center. Make it bigger than the Sears Tower in Chicago. Make the building interesting, too.
Meanwhile, should all our major cities be under continious watch by fighter jets? Unnerving, all these thoughts of "fortress America"--but that is the new paradigm.
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[brentl]

Why not a nice monument/park??
In todays economic climate it doesn't make sense.
LL cool B

 

[DaveF]

Hollow facades as a memorial?

And the symbolism doesn't seem appropriate. In any case, I'd think they'd be nearly as difficult and expensive as the full buildings, floors and all.
I don't have a strong opinion on the rebuilding issue. But to throw out a different opinion, I suggest a park.
Big buildings come and go. There's always a newer, taller one being planned. And in practical terms, the WTC towers were big expensive buildings for big expensive companies, with a cool view for tourists. Instead of continuing the global architectural he-man contest, how about something with more 'soul' than the rather sterile WTC buildings -- more 'human' than 'material'.
Construct a park (you know, trees, shrubs, squirrels, grass); have a subdued memorial to those lost in the WTC, Pentagon, and downed flights. Make it a park in the European sense -- a place for quiet conversation, resting, contemplation.
Just an idea.

 

[Aurel Savin]

Dave:
I am with you on the park ...
While recreating the towers would be nice ... I think it would be wrong to do over the exact same spot.
I mean people lost their lives there ... who would want to move in? It's just bad karma ... not to mention a constant reminder of what happened.
Now, rebuilding somewhere else downtown ... maybe ... but not replicas.
Also Silverstein, the man who holds the lease expressed the fact that there will be no rebuilding of the exact towers.
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[Inspector Hammer!]

Theirs an interesting article that apeared in todays edition of 'USA Today', it seems that the event's of last Tuesday has made alot of Americans afraid to go into tall skyscrapers, and rightly so, don't you think? The articlae also has a little piece about what may be built at the site of the former WTC, quote...
"If you damage a landmark, it damages the psyche of a people," says Mark Smith, managing partner of Ernst & Young's real estate advisory group. He consults for the New York port authority on it's World Trade Center property. Should officials ask him what to put there next, he says his advice wll be succinct: something smaller and simpler.
In other words, something that doesn't stand out. Something that, well, conforms. Perhaps with good reason. A recent USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup poll found that while 70% of Americans still favor the construction of skyscrapers in the USA, 35% of those polled concede they are less willing to walk into one.
end quote.
So it looks like if Mr.Smith gets his wish, we won't be seeing a terribly tall building or two standing their, but something more simpler. It raises a good point though, do you think that if they started building the ORIGINAL WTC towers today, that they would have found it still nessasary to make them as tall as they were? In short, do you think that thier height and size were just a product of the time they were built?
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GOD BLESS THE U.S.A.!
[Edited last by John Williamson on September 19, 2001 at 06:03 PM]

 

[MickeS]

Well, there has to be something built there, I would gess, since it was reportedly the workplace of more than 50,000 people.
I second the idea of building something completely new, not just a replica of the Towers. Did anyone actually like them? I haven't seen many people express positive opinions about these buildings or the surrounding are, I know I thought the place was hideously sterile and lacking any personality whatsoever. They looked cool from far away, since there were two of them, but something like Empire State Building makes them pale in comparison.
I wish they build something that's worthy of the attention it will get, and I hope they build some kind of tasteful memorial.

In short, do you think that thier height and size were just a product of the time they were built?

Yes, since they were built to become the largest buildings in the world. I think few people pay attention to that these days (how many here knew that the world's tallest building is in Singapore? I didn't), but back in the 70's that seemed to be a big draw for tourists.
/Mike
[Edited last by MickeS on September 19, 2001 at 06:08 PM]

 

[Jon_Are]

I like Roger Ebert's idea:
Make it green
September 14, 2001
BY ROGER EBERT
If there is to be a memorial, let it not be of stone and steel. Fly no flag above it, for it is not the possession of a nation but a sorrow shared with the world.
Let it be a green field, with trees and flowers. Let there be paths that wind through the shade. Put out park benches where old people can sun in the summertime, and a pond where children can skate in the winter.
Beneath this field will lie entombed forever some of the victims of September 11. It is not where they thought to end their lives. Like the sailors of the battleship Arizona, they rest where they fell.
Let this field stretch from one end of the destruction to the other. Let this open space among the towers mark the emptiness in our hearts. But do not make it a sad place. Give it no name. Let people think of it as the green field. Every living thing that is planted there will show faith in the future.
Let students take a corner of the field and plant a crop there. Perhaps corn, our native grain. Let the harvest be shared all over the world, with friends and enemies, because that is the teaching of our religions, and we must show that we practice them. Let the harvest show that life prevails over death, and let the gifts show that we love our neighbors.
Do not build again on this place. No building can stand there. No building, no statue, no column, no arch, no symbol, no name, no date, no statement. Just the comfort of the earth we share, to remind us that we share it.
Copyright © Chicago Sun-Times Inc.
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"This one goes to eleven." (Nigel Tufnel)

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Man, that is the most beautiful thing i've ever read.
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GOD BLESS THE U.S.A.!

 

[Neil Joseph]

I am in favour of a single 140 story tower keeping the same name as the old buildings. I head that Donald Trump is looking at putting up some money for a new tower.
orangeman
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[Glenn Overholt]

I was all for rebuilding it too until this morning. First, I heard that the NJ transit system's subway that goes directly across the Hudson to WTC had six inches of water in in this morning. They didn't know where it came from, though.
Then, to top it off, I read an article about how they laid the foundation for WTC. They called it a 'bathtub design'. Don't ask, but it was very tricky to set up. Anyway, if they pull the rubble out without putting more reinforcement braces back in, the whole WTC area will collapse upon itself, and fill up with water from the Hudson.
Maybe they can put something else up in Battery Park.
Glenn

 

[SteveMc]

how's this for a rebuilding idea.
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[Carl Johnson]

got it...

 

[Tim Abbott]

I saw an article somewhere (it escapes me now) that interviewed the landlord/owner of the two towers. He said that they were looking at building 4 55-60 story towers where the two towers were. There were two main reasons
1. He thought everyone would be afraid to work in two towers that large after this happened
2. In today's economy it would be unrealistic economically to rebuild the two towers.
I guess it is a lot cheaper to build the 4 smaller buildings than two large ones.
Just something that I thought was interesting.
Tim