# WTC Rebuilds: Nine New Designs Are Released **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 18, 2002, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-rebuilds-nine-new-designs-are-released/143623 "2002-12-18T19:08:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![thirdshiftgrottoslack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9a28c/32.png) [@thirdshiftgrottoslack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdshiftgrottoslack)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-rebuilds-nine-new-designs-are-released/143623/41 "2002-12-20T03:35:37Z")
those schemes all look pretty bad. i usually like libeskind’s work, his holocaust museum is amazing, but this thing doesn’t do much for me. norman foster’s design is fair. at least it’s somewhat elegant. i don’t know what meier was thinking. his work has always been consistant, but this thing is a joke. he’s a bit formulaic, but i’ve never seen a building so clumsy in my life. but skyscrapers are played out. i think mies van der rohe was the last innovator in the high-rise field. ever since then skyscrapers have either been huge phalluses or cheap imitations. of course i’m generalizing here, because there’s been some great high-rises int he last 50 years, but they’re few and far between. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-rebuilds-nine-new-designs-are-released/143623/42 "2002-12-20T04:09:54Z")
—That, sends a message to the terrorists.— How so? It seems more like, from how it would have to be positioned, that it would be sending a message to New Jersey and Brooklyn. ---
**Author:** ![Rider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dc4da7/32.png) [@Rider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rider)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-rebuilds-nine-new-designs-are-released/143623/43 "2002-12-20T04:50:59Z")
Is it stipu;lated anywhere that the building has to be plane-proof? That might be a starting point. Imagine the effect on the national psyche if the new one got taken out too. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-rebuilds-nine-new-designs-are-released/143623/44 "2002-12-20T05:05:50Z")
**Tuckerfan** , that is truly the best one of them all. I was thinking of that when I saw this thread and trying to remember where I saw it. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-rebuilds-nine-new-designs-are-released/143623/45 "2002-12-20T05:17:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by even sven \* > Why is everyone so obsessed with making it as big as possible? Is it some kind of penis thing that I’m missing out on? > > It might send a messege to America, but what will that be? Our national pride rests on our ability to make huge edifices? The best answer to attacks on our culture is to make giant monuments to our obsession with conspicous consumption? \*\* well…um…yes dammit! Foster and Partners - Nice building. Looks really out of place in lower Manhattan. SOM, SANAA,… - Nice…looks like a giant friggin robot octopus. THINK Design - What the fuck? A giant airplane caught in a big Tinker Toy? Richard Meier & Partners Architects - And center square gets the ‘X’ United Architects - Pretty cool. It actually does looks like something out of Blade Runner. Studio Daniel Libeskind - eh Peterson/Littenberg Architecture and Urban Design - Looks like a sickly version of the WTC ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-rebuilds-nine-new-designs-are-released/143623/46 "2002-12-20T05:20:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rider \* > \*\*Is it stipu;lated anywhere that the building has to be plane-proof? > That might be a starting point. Imagine the effect on the national psyche if the new one got taken out too. \*\* There’s no way to make the buildings “plane-proof.” As one of the engineers of the WTC put it, “The only way you can make a building totally safe from plane crashes, is not to have a plane crash into it.” Any new building in NYC has to be able to withstand the impact of a plane crash. That just means the building won’t totally implode the moment it gets hit. ---
**Author:** ![Diff\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@Diff\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diff_T)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-rebuilds-nine-new-designs-are-released/143623/47 "2002-12-20T07:13:05Z")
I assumed that the “Thing” in the THINK design was a reference to where the planes hit, connected to make a museum. I don’t think they MENT it to look like a plane crashing into the towers. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-rebuilds-nine-new-designs-are-released/143623/48 "2002-12-20T07:16:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Apos \* > \*\*—That, sends a message to the terrorists.— > > How so? It seems more like, from how it would have to be positioned, that it would be sending a message to New Jersey and Brooklyn. \*\* Well, from what I understand, those folks tend to think New Yorker’s do that to them anyway, so this would just give them something to point to as proof. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-rebuilds-nine-new-designs-are-released/143623/49 "2002-12-20T07:21:08Z")
I still want a Giant Mechanical Jesus to swat down planes! Give me my Giant Mechanical Jesus!!! Don’t make me build it in my basement, cuz i will!! I’ve got just that much free time!!! ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-rebuilds-nine-new-designs-are-released/143623/50 "2002-12-20T07:27:01Z")
I must be easy to please, but I liked all the designs, except for the big tic-tac-toe board. I don’t think a new building should ‘fit in’ in Manhattan. I think it should stand out and be as controversial as the first WTC was. And I think think some of those designs are just ingenious. Like the big trellis thing that can grow in two dimensions over time as it fills up. Or the huge ‘city in the sky’. Cool stuff. And I would imagine that the new buildings will be designed to withstand impact from a jetliner, including the fuel it pours down everything. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-rebuilds-nine-new-designs-are-released/143623/51 "2002-12-20T07:51:38Z")
This is still the best proposal I’ve seen. By far. [http://www.wtc2002.com/start.lasso](http://www.wtc2002.com/start.lasso) ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-rebuilds-nine-new-designs-are-released/143623/52 "2002-12-20T10:39:26Z")
You’re kidding, right? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-rebuilds-nine-new-designs-are-released/143623/53 "2002-12-20T10:44:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Attrayant \* > \*\*This is still the best proposal I’ve seen. > > By far. > > [http://www.wtc2002.com/start.lasso](http://www.wtc2002.com/start.lasso) \*\* I like the corny music. I especially like this nonsense: [quote] 1: Our Cyber City will have a State of the Art External Security System which at this stage evolves around “Sound Waves” which has the capacity at a specific frequency to repel flying objects up to a five mile circumference. We will seek support from the political system to bring about an edict that a “Five Mile No Fly Zone” area is put into effect around the island of Manhattan. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-rebuilds-nine-new-designs-are-released/143623/54 "2002-12-20T13:51:09Z")
Can’t you just hear it now? Tactical Officer: “Governor, 747 approaching from the east!” Pataki: “Activate shields!” ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-rebuilds-nine-new-designs-are-released/143623/55 "2002-12-22T13:45:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Attrayant \* > \*\*This is still the best proposal I’ve seen. > > By far. > > [http://www.wtc2002.com/start.lasso](http://www.wtc2002.com/start.lasso) \*\* [It’s been done.](http://home.earthlink.net/~tuckerfan/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-rebuilds-nine-new-designs-are-released/143623/56 "2002-12-22T14:08:16Z")
> [@](#): > > I agree, they’re all pretty much dreadful. I would actually be very pleased with two towers, identical to the old ones in every way, but totally black–black granite/glass. Okay, I’m no architect but black granite? #1 - price would be _astronomical._; #2 - I’m thinking the footer of that building would have to be the size of Manhattan in order to accomodate the weight of 100+ vertical stories of granite. Personally, the only concept that doesn’t offend me is Peterson & Littenberg. The other ones try too hard to be edgy. They stick out like a sore thumb from the rest of the landscape. A building should complement its surroundings, not compete with it. Can anyone else picture Prince Charles’s reaction to these ideas? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-rebuilds-nine-new-designs-are-released/143623/57 "2002-12-22T15:44:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SolGrundy \* > \*\*I agree that they all suck, but the one cainxinth calls “bland and old fashioned” is the one that comes closest to getting it right. \*\* I agree… that was the only one I liked. It’s classy. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-rebuilds-nine-new-designs-are-released/143623/58 "2002-12-22T16:02:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by alexandria2000 \* > \*\*Nah, the first time any of us saw it at work, the first thing out of our mouths was “It looks like a freaking ivy trellis!” > > Then someone said, “I really feel the urge to play tic-tac-toe with it…”\*\* Looks like a giant picket fence to me. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-rebuilds-nine-new-designs-are-released/143623/59 "2002-12-22T16:27:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tuckerfan \* > \*\*[It’s been done.](http://home.earthlink.net/~tuckerfan/index.html) \*\* Been done where? I mean I see the picture… but what/where is it? ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-rebuilds-nine-new-designs-are-released/143623/60 "2002-12-22T17:14:32Z")
It’s either the [Westin Bonaventure](http://www.glasssteelandstone.com/US/CA/LosAngelesWestinBonaventure.html) hotel in Los Angeles or Marriott’s [Renaissance Center](http://www.skyscrapers.com/english/file/0.9/143593/dim6/index.html) hotel in Detroit, both of which are designed by John Portman & Associates. Thumbs down on black granite. I don’t think materials cost and weight would be an issue (IIRC, skyscrapers typically weigh less than the earth that has been removed underneath them because these buildings are basically just walls surrounding a lot of empty air), but the cooling bill during the summer would be horrendous. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-rebuilds-nine-new-designs-are-released/143623.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-rebuilds-nine-new-designs-are-released/143623.md?page=4)