New at Reason

November 30, 2006

Todd Seavey makes the case for graceful architecture at the side of our gaping national wound.

Comments

|11.30.06 @ 8:13AM|#

Art Deco: The original art form, the enduring art form, the returning art form.

Art Deco was, is, and shall be -- The best!

|11.30.06 @ 8:18AM|#

Nothing like bickering fools, ego-centric architects and massive cost overruns (the current proposed price tag for the Freedom Tower is a mere $2 billion...yeah...right) to make me lose interest in whatever replaces the World Trade Center.

It's also saddled with a lame name. Personally, I am tired of the word "freedom" being tacked on to anything of national significance.

Shake it up a little with "Liberty" or "Equality" or "Unity" or "Democracy" or something.

|11.30.06 @ 8:18AM|#

And Art Deco is cool.

|11.30.06 @ 8:39AM|#

Here's a revolutionary idea. Sell the land and let the owner put up what he or she wants. Shutting up is implicitly included include in this proposition.

|11.30.06 @ 8:54AM|#

What J sub D said.

|11.30.06 @ 9:03AM|#

Shutting up is implicitly included include in this proposition.

Not gonna happen. As Americans we already talk too much. And we proceed through life as if what he have to say is all that important.

wise ass|11.30.06 @ 9:12AM|#

Like here, for instance.

Rhywun|11.30.06 @ 9:12AM|#

The Port Authority isn't going to sell - move on.

Anyway, good article. I'm afraid it's probably too late to do anything about the "Freedom Tower" - they're pouring the foundation already.

|11.30.06 @ 9:12AM|#

Art Deco is very cool.

I think J sub D's idea is ideal, which is why it will never happen.

mjs|11.30.06 @ 10:21AM|#

Instead of the Freedom Tower, let's just put in a dance club. Call it "Party at Ground Zero." (I couldn't resist, it was the first thing I thought of when I saw the article title.)


mjs

|11.30.06 @ 11:47AM|#

fArt DRecHo.

I liked it the way it was and should be again.

grylliade|11.30.06 @ 12:13PM|#

fArt DRecHo.

Wow. That's really clever.

As a side note: could we please banish the word "playful" from discussions of art? It's one of the most annoying things to come out of postmodernism. It's a useful concept, but it's just such a . . . dumb way to put it.

R C Dean|11.30.06 @ 12:18PM|#

Whatever they put there, I hope there's a barbeque joint.

Cuz I'd love to suck down some pulled pork and baby back ribs on the site where those Islamist scum died.

|11.30.06 @ 1:39PM|#

At the very least, there should be gargoyles. In this case, they should look like gorillas.

|11.30.06 @ 2:13PM|#

"Sell the land and let the owner put up what he or she wants."

I'm game. How about a giant, slightly curved penis with swollen fungus spots and a purple vein running down the side? The steam on the top could shoot out of a spout. So what if it devalues other billion dollar real estate site in the area!

I agree that the Freedom Tower is a bad joke. Art Deco is cool, but anything impressive will work. Giant boxes are not impressive. Spires are not impressive. Four 200-story cylinders connected by helipads, that's what I'm lookin' for.

|11.30.06 @ 3:33PM|#

"I liked it the way it was and should be again."

Sorry, but-
From a strictly aesthetic point of view, I think the skyline was vastly improved by the deletion of the WTC. Those towers were ugly before the concrete was cured, and they were ugly the day they collapsed. They were a scar on the horizon. The ownership status is (too) complex, but I believe the decision regarding what will come next should be based on economics rather than dopey ostentatious sentimentality.

If that makes me an America-hating nutball wackjob, I'll just have to learn to live with it.

|11.30.06 @ 3:53PM|#

The Woolworth building???? THe Empire State wannabe? That crap?

Please.

|11.30.06 @ 4:38PM|#

I will back up enough to say that not ALL art deco is ugly. [The Chrysler Building is wonderful.] But most art deco architecture I've seen is both ugly and overblown.

I liked the clean lines of the twin towers and cannot think of anything I would rather see on that site. The "Freedom Tower" design is something only a committee could like.

brian423|11.30.06 @ 7:30PM|#

(One such architect suggested a replacement design for the World Trade Center that would have looked like the original complex in mid-collapse.)

That would have been the Springtime for Hitler of buildings.

|12.2.06 @ 5:00PM|#

Whatever they put there, I hope there's a barbeque joint.

One vote for Famous Dave's...