# Am I the only one who thinks the new 1 World Trade Center building is...boring? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 3, 2014, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-thinks-the-new-1-world-trade-center-building-is-boring/703530 "2014-11-03T17:07:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-thinks-the-new-1-world-trade-center-building-is-boring/703530/21 "2014-11-03T20:06:36Z")
People are going to call it One World Trade Center or some abbreviation of that. (WTC probably) It’s OK. It’s been nice to have something blocking the sky in the way the sky was supposed to blocked when you looked down one of the avenues. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-thinks-the-new-1-world-trade-center-building-is-boring/703530/22 "2014-11-04T17:33:12Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > At the risk of being labeled anti-patriotic or some other silly thing, I think that calling it Freedom Tower and making it 1776 feet tall is all kinds of hokey. I guess it’s a good thing no one consulted me, huh? I agree that the originals should have been rebuilt as they were. I’m with you. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-thinks-the-new-1-world-trade-center-building-is-boring/703530/23 "2014-11-04T17:35:55Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > What is find most distasteful is that it took 13 years to get built. The biggest middle finger we could have ever given the terrorists would have been to rebuild the just as they were in as short a time as possible. Instead we obliged them them by wasting American blood and treasure in a war that accomplished nothing. You seem to be under the impression that the US government built the WTC. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-thinks-the-new-1-world-trade-center-building-is-boring/703530/24 "2014-11-05T00:46:41Z")
[QUOTE=Fallen] Among other things, I suspect the average rate of pay for average construction worker on the BK was quite a lot less than that of people working in NYC. [/QUOTE] Holy hamburgers, you’re right about that. A little more research, and it looks like the Burj was practically built with slave labor. Skilled carpenters were getting about $7 per day, and labor got around $4.50 per day. Current union wages in NYC for a journeyman carpenter appear to be in the area of $50 an hour, so a couple billion in labor for the build is not unthinkable. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-thinks-the-new-1-world-trade-center-building-is-boring/703530/25 "2014-11-05T02:24:25Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Holy hamburgers, you’re right about that. A little more research, and it looks like the Burj was practically built with slave labor. Skilled carpenters were getting about $7 per day, and labor got around $4.50 per day. Current union wages in NYC for a journeyman carpenter appear to be in the area of $50 an hour, so a couple billion in labor for the build is not unthinkable. & a fair portion of the Burj labor was ex-pats sending money back home, living/working there because they made _more_ than if they were home. ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-thinks-the-new-1-world-trade-center-building-is-boring/703530/26 "2014-11-05T04:04:48Z")
I think it’s kind of meh. I work in front of it and can see it from my house since I live on the Palisades…I guess it stands out is the most I can say about it. This past winter falling ice from the tower caused a total clusterfrock inside of the PATH that was honestly kind of terrifying in terms of feeling like in a REAL emergency all PATH riders would be mostly screwed. I am being squashed and pushed and strangled somewhere inside this photo…it was a [total mess](http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/weather/ice-briefly-shuts-world-trade-center-path-station-article-1.1605818). ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-thinks-the-new-1-world-trade-center-building-is-boring/703530/27 "2014-11-05T14:54:07Z")
> [@anu-la1979](#): > > I think it’s kind of meh. I work in front of it and can see it from my house since I live on the Palisades…I guess it stands out is the most I can say about it. Same here, except I’m seeing it from the other side – it’s right in the middle of the view from my apartment in Brooklyn. Really, it doesn’t do anything for me. I don’t find it offensive or anything, but it’s just another tower in the skyline. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-thinks-the-new-1-world-trade-center-building-is-boring/703530/28 "2014-11-05T15:30:43Z")
I was hoping we would go with a modernized version of the twin towers, do that the Manhattan skyline would look more or less like it did for so many years. Oh well. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-thinks-the-new-1-world-trade-center-building-is-boring/703530/29 "2014-11-07T09:28:48Z")
Looking at the skyline picture I like it, scrolling down to the view from the St. Nicholas National Shrine… um… ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-thinks-the-new-1-world-trade-center-building-is-boring/703530/30 "2014-11-07T16:24:52Z")
I haven’t seen it in person, only pictures. It’s got a twisting/tapering thing going on, which is fine, but that doesn’t go all the way to the ground. The bottom hundred feet or so are just plain vertical sides. I don’t like that it transitions from one thing to another; it looks like they changed their mind in the middle of building it. I have no idea why they did that. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-thinks-the-new-1-world-trade-center-building-is-boring/703530/31 "2014-11-07T16:58:14Z")
I like the look of the building. I agree with everyone who thinks the name and height and other unnecessary U-S-A! stuff is hokey and stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-thinks-the-new-1-world-trade-center-building-is-boring/703530/32 "2014-11-07T17:32:47Z")
I think it’s absolutely beautiful. Maybe it looks better in person? ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-thinks-the-new-1-world-trade-center-building-is-boring/703530/33 "2014-11-07T18:07:54Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I haven’t seen it in person, only pictures. It’s got a twisting/tapering thing going on, which is fine, but that doesn’t go all the way to the ground. The bottom hundred feet or so are just plain vertical sides. I don’t like that it transitions from one thing to another; it looks like they changed their mind in the middle of building it. I have no idea why they did that. IIRC, it was changed after they’d started construction due to security concerns, since the old base was thought to be vulnerable to a 1992 like car-bombing. Kinda feel for the poor architects. Its hard enough to build a sky-scraper that makes everyone happy. Even harder if you have to worry about a bunch of crazy but industrious jyhadists trying to knock it down. But that said, I like the new building. Even if it wasn’t intentional, I think the base does a good job evoking the Statue of Liberty, and the upper portion resists the temptation to get too artsy. Thank god they changed the name, though. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-thinks-the-new-1-world-trade-center-building-is-boring/703530/34 "2014-11-07T22:08:04Z")
I quite like it. In person it looks pretty impressive, and I think it adds a lot to the skyline. True, rebuilding the original towers would have been cool, but they would have been an even bigger target for terrorists than 1WTC, and IIRC, before 9/11 people weren’t too pleased with the “big rectangular prisms” design. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-thinks-the-new-1-world-trade-center-building-is-boring/703530/35 "2014-11-07T22:23:11Z")
It’s an irresistible target for terrorists. Not saying it shouldn’t have been built. But still. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-one-who-thinks-the-new-1-world-trade-center-building-is-boring/703530.md?page=1)