While busily draping themselves in the glory of past tragedy courtesy the terrorists attacks of 9/11, the GOP visitors last week passed on the opportunity detail the current situation. In case you are still dizzy from either the fervor of untrammeled patriotism or the chemical residue of Pier 57, here is a short update: no planners or funders have been postively identified or apprehended, an amount approaching ‘most’ of the promised federal funding for the redevelopment is likely never arriving, and the downtown area remains economically depressed and culturally adrift. A few other people have noticed as well.
THOUGH PROMINENT in the Times article on Sunday, the launch of Project Rebirth passed rather quietly. Aside from its poor type decisions, and cloying title, the information can be a good overview, though some of it is lightweight PR flacking. The highlight is the ability to view the reconstruction via a number of time lapse cameras that have been installed. The most striking effect of this is exactly as the Times notes: for all the impressive technology, and the welter of words unleashed over the past three years, it remains steadfastly an ungainly and disturbing rent in the landscape.
IN THE CURRENT Architect’s Newspaper (not yet online, and probably won’t be) D. Grahame Shane takes a fine pen (and ruler) to some of the current site issues that are painfully unresolved, and typically glossed over in the debate that is so abstractly constructed — much of it over symbolism, use, and remembrance — that a fundamental fact is being left out: the site slopes 30 feet from east to west, a fact that was immaterial previously. The original WTC plaza faced primarily east, with no decent pedestrian access to the other boundaries. The transitions were often disguised by the intercession of the outlying buildings, but very evident in a couple of underwhelming stairs few visitors actually used (think about it: did you ever once, sitting in the plaza think, ‘Oh, I think I’ll go stroll up the east side of West Street?’), given that services such as shopping, transit and access to Battery Park all required entering the complex. Now, the aggregation of competing uses without a fully resolved master plan, as well as the demand to recreate as much as the street grid as possible, will expose the poor state of the current master planning. Shane lays it out peice-by-piece, identifying places where the disjunction is most evident, and, at points, irresolved to the point of absurdity — such as the likely scenario where Fulton Street will simply dead-end above West Street, a good twenty feet seperating the two. Elegant.
If you get a copy of the article, make sure to have the LMDC’s current site plan handy. Unless you are a map hound or intimately familiar with the site and reconstruction plans, it can be hard to orient oneself. What is really needed is an axonometric projection of the site (even better, a Quick Time VR/walkthrough) showing the magnitude of some of the (out-of- ) scale issues. Maybe all the money that’s been thrown at dBox can be applied towards something useful.
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A hole of many colors.
While busily draping themselves in the glory of past tragedy courtesy the terrorists attacks of 9/11, the GOP visitors last week passed on the opportunity detail the current situation. In case you are still dizzy from either the fervor of untrammeled patriotism or the chemical residue of Pier 57, here is a short update: no planners or funders have been postively identified or apprehended, an amount approaching ‘most’ of the promised federal funding for the redevelopment is likely never arriving, and the downtown area remains economically depressed and culturally adrift. A few other people have noticed as well.
THOUGH PROMINENT in the Times article on Sunday, the launch of Project Rebirth passed rather quietly. Aside from its poor type decisions, and cloying title, the information can be a good overview, though some of it is lightweight PR flacking. The highlight is the ability to view the reconstruction via a number of time lapse cameras that have been installed. The most striking effect of this is exactly as the Times notes: for all the impressive technology, and the welter of words unleashed over the past three years, it remains steadfastly an ungainly and disturbing rent in the landscape. IN THE CURRENT Architect’s Newspaper (not yet online, and probably won’t be) D. Grahame Shane takes a fine pen (and ruler) to some of the current site issues that are painfully unresolved, and typically glossed over in the debate that is so abstractly constructed — much of it over symbolism, use, and remembrance — that a fundamental fact is being left out: the site slopes 30 feet from east to west, a fact that was immaterial previously. The original WTC plaza faced primarily east, with no decent pedestrian access to the other boundaries. The transitions were often disguised by the intercession of the outlying buildings, but very evident in a couple of underwhelming stairs few visitors actually used (think about it: did you ever once, sitting in the plaza think, ‘Oh, I think I’ll go stroll up the east side of West Street?’), given that services such as shopping, transit and access to Battery Park all required entering the complex. Now, the aggregation of competing uses without a fully resolved master plan, as well as the demand to recreate as much as the street grid as possible, will expose the poor state of the current master planning. Shane lays it out peice-by-piece, identifying places where the disjunction is most evident, and, at points, irresolved to the point of absurdity — such as the likely scenario where Fulton Street will simply dead-end above West Street, a good twenty feet seperating the two. Elegant. If you get a copy of the article, make sure to have the LMDC’s current site plan handy. Unless you are a map hound or intimately familiar with the site and reconstruction plans, it can be hard to orient oneself. What is really needed is an axonometric projection of the site (even better, a Quick Time VR/walkthrough) showing the magnitude of some of the (out-of- ) scale issues. Maybe all the money that’s been thrown at dBox can be applied towards something useful.