Wedgie

May 1, 2003 9:47 AM

Libeskind's "wedge of light" WTC design isn't what you thought. Specifically, if you thought that sunlight would shine down on the plaza at precisely the interval between the time the first tower was hit, and the time the last tower fell...no. That's not what Libeskind meant after all. Actually, there would be shadows, it turns out. From other buildings! So funny, so pathetic.
posted by luser (10 comments total)

As if playing to the remembrance of the Holocaust wasn't enough. . .
posted by four panels at 11:00 AM on May 1, 2003

Check out The Phoenix Project - a "grassroots" organization. I am want to take his words with a grain of salt - The Phoenix Project is his design for the rebuilding effort. The millennium Tower is his designed tower. In his website he talks of himself as "critically acclaimed architect Eli Attia" - I don't know about you, but I have been around the architecture town a bit, and I have never heard of him - and many of my peers have not either. Architectural criticism is a necessary need in the profession, but it seems like his motives are less altruistic.

And four panels -
As if playing to the remembrance of the Holocaust wasn't enough.

I have no idea what you are talking about. Please elaborate.

I hope everyone who watches these event realizes how hard it is to work in committee - especially with a developer. Developers just want rentable space - they could care less about design and meaning. As long as it brings in the money, that is what they care about. That is one of the principle reasons why American cites, and urban cores, are so bland and uninviting.
posted by plemeljr at 11:48 AM on May 1, 2003

Yes, because as we well know, remembering the Holocaust is wrong. And what were the other proposals playing to "playing to," the architectural equivalent of the Medusa?

Eh, I don't like his design that much, but it did seem the better planned of the submissions. It's reasonable, if not great. I think the real problem was the lack of solid proposals. I find this odd -- what architect wouldn't jump at the chance to design NY's centerpiece? So where's all the diversity and creativity?
posted by Krrrlson at 11:50 AM on May 1, 2003

Yeah, and what plemeljr said. An obviously jealous competitor is not an objective source for information. And I restate here that I am not exactly a fan of Liebeskind's work.

Lastly -- Attia's design is so boring and predictable. And the way he waxes poetic about them is just repugnant. He sounds like he's really full of it.
posted by Krrrlson at 12:05 PM on May 1, 2003

plemeljr, I think four panels is referencing Libeskind's work on the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Just don't ask me what it has to do with this discussion. Here is a list of his other projects.
posted by whatnot at 12:13 PM on May 1, 2003

Libeskind's design is pop shite.
posted by zanpo at 2:44 PM on May 1, 2003

You mean an architect can't control the sun? Well that changes everything....
posted by spilon at 4:37 PM on May 1, 2003

Attia's criticisms sound like "sour grapes," said another critic, who didn't want to be identified.

Attia responded "That's absolute nonsense. I was asked to participate (in the LMDC design study) and I refused. I'll be happy to participate in an open competition, and I hope I will win, but only through a competition."

skyscraperpage.com has more letters in a bulletin board and a another bulletin board thread with updated plans and photos of newWTC by Libeskind displayed at the Winter Garden NYC.

Clearly, Mr. Atta Attia is playing the emo card with his vociferous objections. Like a magician trying to distract the audience by focusing his attention on something that has nothing to do with the striking beauty of Libeskind's design.

How inappropriate.

"I don't know that the wedge of light was necessarily the be-all and end-all," Bloomberg said yesterday. "The governor and I thought this was the right plan. These plans have to evolve as they work on them."

Nikki Stern, a family member who lost her husband, Jim Potorti, on Sept. 11, said she saw no purpose in "carping over specific details of a plan that is meant to be interpretive."

Attia designed the Millenium Hilton Hotel near the trade center site and 101 Park Avenue, between 40th and 41st Streets.

Interestingly enough, it's his Millenium Hilton Hotel which is reponsible for blocking sunlight, not to mention his mouth.
posted by alicesshoe at 7:41 AM on May 2, 2003

You mean an architect can't control the sun?

But there were plenty of ancient civilizations good at predicting it's path. Just look at the Mayan temples like Chichen Itza. Or at the ancient pueblo in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico.
posted by hyperizer at 7:43 AM on May 2, 2003

Oops. Pretend that apostrophe isn't there.
posted by hyperizer at 8:15 AM on May 2, 2003