ACCOZZAGLIA

or rather, picking out the two that moved me while panning the other five in varying degrees.

i may never have the fortitude to set foot upon the footprint of that area for reasons i can’t and won’t get into here, but at the very least — if any kind of structure is going to be thrown in that space (and, given every indicator out there, this is all but certain) — at least interpretations of two of the seven proposals presented on the 18th of December literally impress me.

i’m forever skeptical. i wince at what seems to be a pandering to the nostalgic or the overt homage to the original structures. whenever i see a structure in its place, be it to protect the footprints of 1 and 2, i get annoyed. it reflects the very American attachment to a structural system that was mired in design mediocrity, old money and hubris. and ummm, that’s the last thing that anyone needs.

that said, the seven proposals.

* * *

these two are in no particular order. both don’t suck, but for different reasons.

DANIEL LIEBSKIND

impressive.

Daniel Libeskind’s concept mesmerizes me on two points: first, he observed an element that is often overlooked, yet played a critical role in preventing the Pile from being in worse shape than it was.

in Libeskind’s study, he allows for the southwest area to reach to the bedrock floor that people currently see today, which exposes part of the original structure, all while allowing people to experience open space on two predominant planes. i’m actually fascinated that he considered the value of this feature and the role in which it played both in the site’s former iteration and in its ability to keep the Pile from springing serious leaks that would have toasted so much more down there. the fact that people would be able to touch this basin wall is testimony to its understated integrity, utility and ingenuity to a time long passed.

the Wedge of Light that Libeskind suggests sent tingles down my spine. he thoughtfully employs the use of natural sunlight in a way usually reserved in structures found in early- and pre-historic structures, such as with Stonehenge in Britain, several “Dresden Codex”-based Mayan structures (if i recall correctly) throughout Central America, the Medicine Wheels of western North America and the Great Pyramids at Giza in Egypt. in this approach, the sunlight exposure to “Heroes Park” (i’m not so thrilled about the name of that, but that’s another thought entirely), on the anniversary morning of the incident — between 8:46am and 10:28am — isn’t obstructed by a single shadow from any structure associated with Libeskind’s design.

the accompanying Circular Promenade, raked at a slight grade and extending above ground on the southwest region of the area (which overlooks this Park) breaks convention entirely by introducing a non-angular feature into an otherwise traditionally rigid area, dominated by trapezoids, squares and rectangles. further, this circular Promenade extends well outside of the “box” that features the basin retaining walls of the original plan.

it’s too bad that Libeskind couldn’t have extended this geometric fludity further with respect to the actual high-rise structures. instead of approaching these with hemispheric or lemon-wedge shapes, he instead relied on seemingly conventional obelisks that are found on existing high-rise buildings dating all the way back to the very early 1970s (such as Pennzoil Plaza in Houston, 1976). on the bright side, though, the glass-enclosed Performing Arts Centre is a wise, unorthodox and innovative touch, not unlike the materials methods that the Weismann Center in Minneapolis or the Guggenheim in Bilbao approached in the 1990s.

the same goes with the tallest structure in the site, the Vertical World Gardens. i don’t believe i’ve ever seen anything like this before, and unless i’m mistaken, i’m not sure where else you can see trees growing in an artificial structure a thousand feet in the air.

* * * * *

UNITED ARCHITECTS

just … wow.

at first glance, i wasn’t immediately impressed by the fact that, of the seven proposals, this one featured the tallest habitable structure. i mean, hi there, but wouldn’t it suck if it got hit again?

but apparently, they’ve considered this sobering, legit design problem in their proposal.

then again, the structural latticework, paired with the fundamental shapes of each structure and how they meld into one section of “superfloors”, is impressive. unlike that fortress-like structure introduced over the summer (which was pitched by someone from the Bahamas or Bermuda, i think), this one is far more open and airy. and before reading the piece where United Architects suggested for this structure, the effect that this glass superstructure elicits is something like that of a cathedral with no religious favouritisms or leanings.

even when the sun is low in the winter sky, areas that otherwise never saw sunlight — reflected or otherwise — before will always receive light from the glass structure, which doesn’t feature any parallel-facing features. this makes for a countless array of lighting possibilities that will change from minute to minute, and from the same moment on differing days.

like, ummm, cool.

and maybe it’s me, but i swear that these five structures resemble hints of five people, all huddled around the open holes in the ground. this is curious and possibly worth investigating further.

but the part that made me not only get the SHIVERS, but also fall a little breathtaken, was how the footprints of the original two structures extend down to the bedrock floor, where much of the public transit and shopping access is encased. when exiting a PATH platform and onto the plaza under street level, the open “holes” in the street-level ceiling, where the original two footprints were, allows for a direct view of the cathedral structure, and it also allows light to permeate an underground structure in an arguably fascinating way.

further, these holes would be fabricated in the first phase, ready in theory by 2005. that the underground memorial space itself is hexagonal is also well-envisioned.

but i’m slightly less moved by the Sky Memorial. it’s not that it’s ugly or frivolous, but i’m sure that people closely impacted by the incident will be hesitant or loath to haul themselves up to a height even more daunting than the original structure offered.

* * * * *

in both of these concepts, Greenwich Street is reestablished as an artery that had been absent for over three decades. Libeskind goes further than United in this respect, by also reconnecting the Fulton Street east-west thruway. this grants a flow and a contiguity that really choked off the lower tip of the island for at least a generation.

now, if only they could the same for Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis. K-Mart could learn a thing or two from this design study, if only they could haul their sorry arses out of chapter 11 first. or maybe crashing and burning into oblivion will get rid of that ugly behemoth erected back in 1977.

* * * * *

it’s late, and i’m tired, so i’ll return to the other five proposals and update this. just look for this entry with a new date-stamp whenever i get around to adding those additional observations.