One World Trade Center
Pseudopatriotic voices are in uproar over the Freedom Tower name "change".
The name "Freedom Tower" has been dropped for the skyscraper under construction in New York to replace the World Trade Center towers destroyed in the September 11 attacks, but some locals are not happy about it.
On Thursday, it announced it planned to refer to the building by its address -- One World Trade Center -- because that was easiest for people to identify with.
"As we market the building, we will ensure that the building is presented in the best possible way," Port Authority Chairman Anthony Coscia told reporters on Thursday.
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Good. Personally, I never liked that "Freedom Tower" G.I.Joe bullshit anyway.
The plan was savaged by local tabloids. "Free Dumb Tower," was the New York Post's reaction, while the Daily News' front-page headline was: "No More Freedom."
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"Free Dumb Tower"... ho-ho! The fact that someone came up with that line and splashed it over the front page without so much as a cringe makes me think that their writers are a bunch of 2nd graders. All I can say is fuck the New York Post and fuck the Daily News. It's just the kind of ignorant garbage one can expect from tabloid birdcage liner like them. Gee, just wait til they have a heart attack when they learn that Freedom Fries are also not called Freedom Fries anymore!
NYPost/Daily News writers'/readers' memory spans are unbelievably short, so let's take a little recent history refresher to find out why the name "Freedom Tower" always was lame and laughable.
1) When talks of rebuilding the World Trade Center began, it was clear as day that simply rebuilding the Twin Towers was out of the question. Practical concerns certainly had a lot to do with the symbolic nature of the buildings. After the first failed attack in 1993, the same people devised the 2001 plan that succeeded in destruction. Rebuilding the towers would bring us back to September 10th 2001, practically daring any willing terrorist to try again. And try again they certainly would. Now nevermind that poll after poll revealed that most New Yorkers wanted the towers rebuilt... I mean, what do you think this process was going to be? Democracy? Freedom? No no no... clearly the site developers had their own idea about what was to be done with the rebuilding.
For those keeping score, it's Practicality: 1 -- Freedom: 0
2) The first publically revealed plans for the new site included boxy, god-awful buildings that looked pretty Orwellian. These were essentially fortresses clearly designed with the thoughts that when it comes to terrorist targets, lighting can indeed strike twice. Larry Silverstein's concern was that any building above 70 stories would be a major liability in a terrorist attack: the higher/grander the building, the more appealing it is as a target (not to mention the nightmarish logistics of people descending down staircases, firemen going up 100 stories, well... we've already seen what can happen with that.) So clearly, those who wanted something grandiose, inspirational, and soaring at the site (like me) weren't going to get it.
Fear: 2 -- Freedom: 0
3) Well, apparently everybody hated those crappy designs (surprise surprise). So in response, a competition was held where various architects would submit master plans of the new site in hopes of creating something unique and inspiring -- something the public could rally behind which would not only add an iconic landmark to New York's skyline, but also serve as a proud, defiant spirit of America. And so, the new and creative designs poured in.
Fear: 2 -- Freedom: 1
4) The design chosen was that of Daniel Libeskind. In my opinion, not bad... it featured a circular arrangement of five prism-like towers in a cascading orden by descending heights. These buildings were referred to as One New World Trade Center, Two New World Trade Center, Three New World Trade Center, etc. Attached to One World Trade Center, the highest tower (70 stories tall, keeping in line with Silverstein's request) was an enormous glass atrium with gardens that stretched upwards for an additional 30 stories or so, producing a skyline view that a giant transparent toothpick was attached to a moderately-sized New York skyscraper. Apparently this sky-garden idea was unfeasible and it looked like shit anyway so that was eventually scrapped. So the plan was fresher, but hardly a "fuck you" to the terrorists.
Fear: 3 -- Freedom: 1
5) Remember how the skygarden idea was eventually scrapped? Well, essentially the whole tallest building of the master plan was scrapped. In its place was suddenly a newly-designed building: still a large glass prism... but instead of a toothpick sky-garden, it had essentially a 30-story hollow jungle gym planted atop containing nothing but... wind turbines (to harness electricity apparently, but -- bullshit, it was a cheap way to gain extra height while keeping in line with Silverstein's 70-story limit). And atop the jungle gym? A 300-foot spire/antenna... bringing the total official height to 1,776 feet and making it the tallest building in the world. Its name? The Freedom Tower.
WHAT. A. CROCK. OF. SHIT. First off, calling that tower 1776 feet tall was like calling Marge Simpson 9 feet tall. When you really get down to it, there was still only 70 stories worth of office space in that building... not only is that not world's tallest, but it is nowhere even near America's tallest. And second, calling it The Freedom Tower only added a scoop ratshit to the heap of bullshit that was this overstuffed presskit. Essentially, the building was still a product of fear & 21st century terrorist-minded practicality while masking behind a jingoistic Playskool name and a completely phony final height. (By the way, keep in mind that "Freedom Tower" was the new name, but the official address was still One World Trade Center. The other newly designed buildings all kept their names.)
Paranoia: 4 -- Freedom: 1
6) So the jungle gym was garbage and people saw through it. Well, everyone except the New York Post (surprise, surprise!)... they ran a front-page ad calling it "POWER TOWER"... rah-rah-rah, you concrete jungle chimps. And so, the next redesign of the Freedom Tower did away with it. Instead, the jungle gym was replaced by more stories, essentially producing a taller building with a roof height of 1368 feet, identical to the height of one of the destroyed Twin Towers. But don't forget that huge spire/antenna! Just plop it up there dead-center and you can still claim that 1,776 ft. height. As for Silverstein, his fears were assuaged by essentially turning the bottom TWENTY STORIES into a windowless concrete bunker atop which the actual office building would sit. Now 20 stories may not sound like a lot when you're talking about a 100 story building... but imagine a 20-story windowless cube in front of you and tell me how free you think that sounds. And enough people saw through this stunt as well:
The base of the tower (fortified because of security concerns) has also been a source of controversy. A number of critics (notably Derek Murdoch in the National Review) have suggested that it is alienating and dull, and reflects a sense of fear rather than freedom, leading them to dub the project "the Fear Tower." Nicolai Ouroussoff, the architecture critic for the New York Times, calls the tower base decorations a "grotesque attempt to disguise its underlying paranoia."
------------
Bingo.
Fear Tower: 5 -- Freedom Tower: 1
So this is the tower currently going up. And I'm more or less happy with the design. I mean it's nothing terribly original or iconic but it is modern, sleek, big. It reclaims the skyline at least to the same height the original Twins did and I would be super excited to finally see it built. But Freedom Tower? Hardly. It oozes practicality, restraint, and paranoia. Tallest in the world? Too late. The Burj Dubai is now by far the tallest thing ever built and hell, the Chicago Spire currently under construction is taller than 1WTC and will possibly be finished even earlier... making it the tallest in America.
Not to mention: throughout all the redesigns, the name has really always been "1 World Trade Center"... "Freedom Tower" came and went much like "Freedom Fries"... both were symbols of a painful decade where fear and ignorance reigned (French fries weren't even French) but was covered up with knee-jerk slapped-on patriotic labels. It's this cringe-worthy embarassment that we will be telling our children about in the decades ahead, and one would like to think that maybe we will have learned a thing or two from it... but as long as there are enough people who prefer to run around saying things like "Freedom!" and "America is #1" without any interest in whether any of those words are backed by anything substantial, then we'll never rise above anything but phony patriotism.
Oh yeah, and as long as people keep reading garbage like the New York Post, don't expect to see much progress.
The name "Freedom Tower" has been dropped for the skyscraper under construction in New York to replace the World Trade Center towers destroyed in the September 11 attacks, but some locals are not happy about it.
On Thursday, it announced it planned to refer to the building by its address -- One World Trade Center -- because that was easiest for people to identify with.
"As we market the building, we will ensure that the building is presented in the best possible way," Port Authority Chairman Anthony Coscia told reporters on Thursday.
-------------
Good. Personally, I never liked that "Freedom Tower" G.I.Joe bullshit anyway.
The plan was savaged by local tabloids. "Free Dumb Tower," was the New York Post's reaction, while the Daily News' front-page headline was: "No More Freedom."
------------------------------
"Free Dumb Tower"... ho-ho! The fact that someone came up with that line and splashed it over the front page without so much as a cringe makes me think that their writers are a bunch of 2nd graders. All I can say is fuck the New York Post and fuck the Daily News. It's just the kind of ignorant garbage one can expect from tabloid birdcage liner like them. Gee, just wait til they have a heart attack when they learn that Freedom Fries are also not called Freedom Fries anymore!
NYPost/Daily News writers'/readers' memory spans are unbelievably short, so let's take a little recent history refresher to find out why the name "Freedom Tower" always was lame and laughable.
1) When talks of rebuilding the World Trade Center began, it was clear as day that simply rebuilding the Twin Towers was out of the question. Practical concerns certainly had a lot to do with the symbolic nature of the buildings. After the first failed attack in 1993, the same people devised the 2001 plan that succeeded in destruction. Rebuilding the towers would bring us back to September 10th 2001, practically daring any willing terrorist to try again. And try again they certainly would. Now nevermind that poll after poll revealed that most New Yorkers wanted the towers rebuilt... I mean, what do you think this process was going to be? Democracy? Freedom? No no no... clearly the site developers had their own idea about what was to be done with the rebuilding.
For those keeping score, it's Practicality: 1 -- Freedom: 0
2) The first publically revealed plans for the new site included boxy, god-awful buildings that looked pretty Orwellian. These were essentially fortresses clearly designed with the thoughts that when it comes to terrorist targets, lighting can indeed strike twice. Larry Silverstein's concern was that any building above 70 stories would be a major liability in a terrorist attack: the higher/grander the building, the more appealing it is as a target (not to mention the nightmarish logistics of people descending down staircases, firemen going up 100 stories, well... we've already seen what can happen with that.) So clearly, those who wanted something grandiose, inspirational, and soaring at the site (like me) weren't going to get it.
Fear: 2 -- Freedom: 0
3) Well, apparently everybody hated those crappy designs (surprise surprise). So in response, a competition was held where various architects would submit master plans of the new site in hopes of creating something unique and inspiring -- something the public could rally behind which would not only add an iconic landmark to New York's skyline, but also serve as a proud, defiant spirit of America. And so, the new and creative designs poured in.
Fear: 2 -- Freedom: 1
4) The design chosen was that of Daniel Libeskind. In my opinion, not bad... it featured a circular arrangement of five prism-like towers in a cascading orden by descending heights. These buildings were referred to as One New World Trade Center, Two New World Trade Center, Three New World Trade Center, etc. Attached to One World Trade Center, the highest tower (70 stories tall, keeping in line with Silverstein's request) was an enormous glass atrium with gardens that stretched upwards for an additional 30 stories or so, producing a skyline view that a giant transparent toothpick was attached to a moderately-sized New York skyscraper. Apparently this sky-garden idea was unfeasible and it looked like shit anyway so that was eventually scrapped. So the plan was fresher, but hardly a "fuck you" to the terrorists.
Fear: 3 -- Freedom: 1
5) Remember how the skygarden idea was eventually scrapped? Well, essentially the whole tallest building of the master plan was scrapped. In its place was suddenly a newly-designed building: still a large glass prism... but instead of a toothpick sky-garden, it had essentially a 30-story hollow jungle gym planted atop containing nothing but... wind turbines (to harness electricity apparently, but -- bullshit, it was a cheap way to gain extra height while keeping in line with Silverstein's 70-story limit). And atop the jungle gym? A 300-foot spire/antenna... bringing the total official height to 1,776 feet and making it the tallest building in the world. Its name? The Freedom Tower.
WHAT. A. CROCK. OF. SHIT. First off, calling that tower 1776 feet tall was like calling Marge Simpson 9 feet tall. When you really get down to it, there was still only 70 stories worth of office space in that building... not only is that not world's tallest, but it is nowhere even near America's tallest. And second, calling it The Freedom Tower only added a scoop ratshit to the heap of bullshit that was this overstuffed presskit. Essentially, the building was still a product of fear & 21st century terrorist-minded practicality while masking behind a jingoistic Playskool name and a completely phony final height. (By the way, keep in mind that "Freedom Tower" was the new name, but the official address was still One World Trade Center. The other newly designed buildings all kept their names.)
Paranoia: 4 -- Freedom: 1
6) So the jungle gym was garbage and people saw through it. Well, everyone except the New York Post (surprise, surprise!)... they ran a front-page ad calling it "POWER TOWER"... rah-rah-rah, you concrete jungle chimps. And so, the next redesign of the Freedom Tower did away with it. Instead, the jungle gym was replaced by more stories, essentially producing a taller building with a roof height of 1368 feet, identical to the height of one of the destroyed Twin Towers. But don't forget that huge spire/antenna! Just plop it up there dead-center and you can still claim that 1,776 ft. height. As for Silverstein, his fears were assuaged by essentially turning the bottom TWENTY STORIES into a windowless concrete bunker atop which the actual office building would sit. Now 20 stories may not sound like a lot when you're talking about a 100 story building... but imagine a 20-story windowless cube in front of you and tell me how free you think that sounds. And enough people saw through this stunt as well:
The base of the tower (fortified because of security concerns) has also been a source of controversy. A number of critics (notably Derek Murdoch in the National Review) have suggested that it is alienating and dull, and reflects a sense of fear rather than freedom, leading them to dub the project "the Fear Tower." Nicolai Ouroussoff, the architecture critic for the New York Times, calls the tower base decorations a "grotesque attempt to disguise its underlying paranoia."
------------
Bingo.
Fear Tower: 5 -- Freedom Tower: 1
So this is the tower currently going up. And I'm more or less happy with the design. I mean it's nothing terribly original or iconic but it is modern, sleek, big. It reclaims the skyline at least to the same height the original Twins did and I would be super excited to finally see it built. But Freedom Tower? Hardly. It oozes practicality, restraint, and paranoia. Tallest in the world? Too late. The Burj Dubai is now by far the tallest thing ever built and hell, the Chicago Spire currently under construction is taller than 1WTC and will possibly be finished even earlier... making it the tallest in America.
Not to mention: throughout all the redesigns, the name has really always been "1 World Trade Center"... "Freedom Tower" came and went much like "Freedom Fries"... both were symbols of a painful decade where fear and ignorance reigned (French fries weren't even French) but was covered up with knee-jerk slapped-on patriotic labels. It's this cringe-worthy embarassment that we will be telling our children about in the decades ahead, and one would like to think that maybe we will have learned a thing or two from it... but as long as there are enough people who prefer to run around saying things like "Freedom!" and "America is #1" without any interest in whether any of those words are backed by anything substantial, then we'll never rise above anything but phony patriotism.
Oh yeah, and as long as people keep reading garbage like the New York Post, don't expect to see much progress.