Rick's Cafe Americain

The “new” Freedom Tower was unveiled today.  If a better picture appears, I’ll pop it up, but this seems to be the most flattering one they are currently promoting.  I have mixed feelings about the design . . .

On first impression, I like it. The modern, angular design seems very “New York” to a flyover country guy like me. I also like that it’s a bit more futuristic than the blocky buildings usually associated with big city imagery. I agree that the name sounds a little trite, but it does have univeral meaning. “Liberty Tower” might have harmonized nicely with the statue down there to the left. Can’t think of any other apt possibilities.

It looks like something out of a cheesy 80’s movie.  And between the Statue of Liberty and the “Freedom Tower” aren’t we Gallicizing the skyline a bit too much?

The models themselves were horribly deceptive.  When an architect presents you with lucite models of his design for a building that will not be made out of lucite, you should take your checkbook and run away. 

“Freedom Tower” is most definitely a cheesy name, but may be appropriately cheesy. The latest design iteration shows that, despite all the press otherwise, the “Design Team” of Childs, Libeskind, Nordensen (structural), and Silberstein, are NOT getting along. This is a proverbial camel (a horse designed by committee); Libeskind’s spike, Childs’ box, Nordensen’s lattice, and Silberstein’s inability to rent the entire volume. All coming together to form a monument to mediocrity. It’s all being played out like some incredibly boring reality television program, with a really lack luster climax. The whole process was blown months ago, when Pataki could have awarded the entire design to a single architect with a singular compelling vision. Designing by committee NEVER works - a truly great building requires a benevolent dictator that’s truly in control. Remember the masterplan competition? The absolute worst efforts were produced by “Dream Teams”. Libeskind won by virtue of producing a masterplan himself, not by collaborating with anyone (except his own staff). One can only hope that the remaining towers architects (all very good architects) will not be saddled with a host of “collaborators”.

Lucite models indeed!  In fact, it makes it look kind of ghostly.

I think better symbolism would have been to rebuild the towers to show our resilience.