Kunstler On New WTC Designs

Jim Kunstler offers his perspective on the new design for the World Trade Center site in light of PBS's recent documentary on the widely-reviled WTC buildings.

1 minute read

September 10, 2003, 5:00 AM PDT

By Chris Steins @planetizen


"PBS aired Ric Burns's three-hour post-script to his previously completed documentary on the history of New York City... One theme stood out: theTwin Towers were uniformly reviled as works of architecture per se... After watching the story it seems to me that the proposed re-design for the site by architect Daniel Liebeskind is perhaps even more horrible, more misconceived, more arrogant, and more foolish, and perhaps more evil than the original Twin Towers themselves. Liebeskind proposes a set of skewed, warped, tortured, and torqued glass boxes, offset by a decorative tower even taller than the two that fell down. The "monument" to the dead is nothing more than the excavated 'tub' of the original retaining walls of the foundation."

Thanks to The Practice of New Urbanism

Tuesday, September 9, 2003 in James Howard Kunstler

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

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