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World Trade Center...reborn? VERY cool design proposal (1 Viewer)

Rob Lutter

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I think that the 5th tower in the middle, which would house 50 large elevators in case of a fire/terrorist attack is a GREAT idea. I think that overall, it is a very nice design that, if reworked a little, could work.
My only real fear is that after September 11th, we wouldn't rebuild the World Trade Center as big as it was... or even at all. I would love to see a tower go up in that space in the next 20 years... and I personally think that, as a statement, it should be bigger, better, and safer than the WTC towers.
Hell, lets put some stinger missiles on the top of that pyramid for extra protection too ;)
 

Dan Keefe

Second Unit
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Jun 28, 2000
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I think the design was very good. I haven't seen any others, but I am a firm believer that in this case, bigger is better. BTW thanks for linking to that Flash movie. It brings out all the emotions that we shouldn't ever forget,lest we lull ourselves into another sense of false security. Watching that whole thing still shocks me(although to a far lesser degree than it did when it happened), angers me, and makes me sad.
 

Paul_D

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Absolutely terrible design IMO. Just awful. :thumbsdown: If they rebuild, it should be very close to the original design or nothing.
 

Jon_Are

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That is one hideous structure.

Even now, nine months after the tragedy, I feel stronger than ever that Roger Ebert's vision should come to fruition:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


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.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Jon
 

Inspector Hammer!

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Jon,
sounds lovely, and I would love to see that, but with all due respect, this is not a fairy tale world where beautiful things like that take presidence over business and money. The New York Port Authority WILL put another building or buildings at that site. That part where Ebert mentions "beneath the field will be entombed..." is false, their are no human remains left their to be recovered, they completly hollowed out what was once the basement of the WTC, every last nooke and cranny has been covered and cleared of debris and yes, human remains.

Nice sentiment, but not really realistic unfortunatly.
 

Maurice McCone

Stunt Coordinator
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Nov 22, 2001
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is this design for real ?

I don't believe this.

Of course they must rebuild. The greatest retort to terrorism is to carry on and rebuild.....as we have learnt in Northern Ireland with 3000 victims of our own.

But this design is awful, look at the mock up of the proposed skyline, the new building is totally out of proportion and shape with the surrounding skyline...this is a non starter.

I am also suspicious about that pseudo sci-fi nonsense about 'defensive sound waves' this sounds like someones idea of a pathetic joke.
 

Jon_Are

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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,
This is the only part that I found a little bit, well, corny.

I see nothing fairy-tailish about creating a very clean, very green park to honor those lost. Is the office space really needed? Where are all the displaced businesses currently doing their business?

Jon
 

Dana Fillhart

Supporting Actor
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Feb 8, 1999
Messages
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Actually, from New York's perspective, YES the office space is direly in need. Due to a lack of immediate, rentable locales, many, MANY businesses set up temporary shop in New Jersey, thus resulting in MAJOR changes to daily life in the Lower Hudson region. The effect on the economy of the Manhattan downtown region was astoundingly dramatic (negatively), the effect on the traffic patterns because of the reverse-commute effect is equally tremendous (though morning commutes into the city via the two tunnels has improved somewhat, it has drastically worsened at the George Washington Bridge entrance); other social effects have been less obvious but have certainly had a definite rippling effect.

NYC would desparately love to have that office space -- which was in the millions of square feet -- back.
 

Aurel Savin

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I do believe there is plenty of Real Estate in Manhattan to build on .. you gotta really look around. We live in America ... we have more land than we can build on. Why do we have to continue building on the island of Manhattan building after building so close to one another that sunshine doesn't even creep through?

There is something inheritly wrong somehow to build another building over that site ... I am in agreement with Ebert on this and to turn the site strictly into a memorial/park. If it is done the right way, the sheer amount of tourism it will bring to downtown will revitalize the area.

We can build more office space along the West Side Highway.

Just a thought ..
 

Maurice McCone

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Nov 22, 2001
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Jesse, thanks for bringing this article to our attention.

I am sure that people realise that this response is meant to be respectfull of the victims of terrorism by resolving to restore the world, the terrorists are trying to destroy.

I am from Ulster and now live in England; and as this article mentions, we have constantly rebuilt the bombsites whether caused by Loyalist or IRA bombs; indeed I regularly stay in the very hotel Thatcher was bombed in (The Grand,Brighton), which was meticulously rebuilt to the previous spec.

When the violence is over, and unfortunatley, I fear the current attacks on democracy are not, then that is the time to remember our victims with an appropriate memorial.

I visited Washington recently and was deeply moved by the National Vietnam and Korean war memorials. I am sure that in time, as a country, you will come up with something appropriate for victims of the current war against terrorism.
 

Robert_Gaither

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Mar 12, 2002
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I'm going to have to disagree about businesses not wanting the top floor as it would be a prestige thing. Unless the next group of terrorists are armed (and it might not matter even then), I think people will bum rush the next hijackers because of what happened on 9-11. I personally believe that being in a tall building is safer now because of what happened (because it happened).
 

Francois Caron

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MikeM, yes it would be a bad idea to take the elevator in a conventional building during a fire. But the central elevator tower in the new WTC building would be built as a separate structure semi-isolated from the other towers. Taking the elevator in such a building would probably be one of the more efficient ways to reach ground level safely.

The old WTC's major flaw (the same as in most buildings) was that the elevators and fire escapes were part of each building's central core. As soon as the planes compromised the central cores, there was no way for anyone located on the top floors to escape the building. With this new design, it would be very difficult for any plane to reach the central tower without first hitting any of the four main towers unless the plane flew perfectly sideways. If any of the main towers were hit, the central tower would provide a means of escape.
 

Dan D.

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At the risk of sounding like I read too many Tom Clancy books, woundn't it be a reasonable idea to incorporate a manned military station at the top of a new structure? Something similar to the Aegis aircraft carrier defense system, coupled with as large a no-fly zone around Manhattan as can practically be designed would protect the new structure as well as the rest of Manhattan's historic skyline. I'm not talking about a major military installation, but something that could be discretely concealed and would help protect the entire city. Aside from a couple of people in uniform passing through the lobby every once in a while, the general public would not see anything but would probably feel a hell of a lot safer working in the building.
 

Wayne Bundrick

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I was thinking the same thing, Dan. Except I was thinking an anti-aircraft missle battery rather than Aegis. Then I realized that there's just one problem with either one: you shoot down an airplane over Manhattan, and it's going to fall out of the sky, either (mostly) whole or in a million pieces, upon the buildings and streets of Manhattan.
 

Robert_Gaither

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I think that planes are now the least of our worries, used to be in a hostage situation people believed if you cooperate that maybe you'd live because the kidnappers wanted to live. I think the attitude has changed and people are definitely going to bum rush and punk anyone who will try in the future (look what happened to the shoe bomber).

The future threats in my opinion that might test our freedom will be dirty bombs, bio weapons, chem weapons, and maybe even a backpack/briefcase nuke. The strange thing is that this can come from some fringe nut from within our (as in USA, but maybe other countries as well) own borders.
 

KeithH

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Robert, good point. I agree. Over the weekend, I saw The Sum of All Fears. Makes you think.
 

Mitty

Supporting Actor
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Jan 13, 1999
Messages
886
I'm happy to read that it is indeed NOT a legitimite proposal, becuase that is the butt ugliest building design I've ever seen. :thumbsdown:
I'm astonished that 82% of voters on the site have given it the thumbs up.
 

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