Groundbreaking for New WTC Announced

The newly dubbed Freedom Tower will break ground, appropriately enough, on July 4th. Here’s what Gov. Pataki had to say:

On July 4, as fireworks burst in the sky, ephemeral reminders of our liberty, we will begin to reclaim our skyline with a permanent symbol of our freedom.”

Read on for my thorough, albeit unprofessional, analysis of the designs.¬?
The winning design was fine. It was ok. Nothing earth-shattering but certainly not my favorite.

Here’s what I had to say about 7 of the entries back in December of 2002. I have no idea where the those other two intruders came from.

Concept by Firm A | “Diamond Twins” / Nice and tall but far too fragile. Tells the world, “Can some terrorist come knock us over?”
Concept by Firm B | “Prestige & Grass” / Stately and reserved. Firm must be a bunch of scardy cats. My least favorite. Says, “We’re stuck in the 1800s.”
Concept by Firm C | “Topsy Turvy” / Big and bulky conglomeration of steel and glass. Says, “We like our buildings nice and drunk.”
Concept by Firm D | “Shards!” / Lots of non-traditional angles and sharp points. Tells the world, “Look out! Or we’ll cut ya!”
Concept by Firm E | “Dual Vacuum Hoses” / Futuristic design. Doesn’t look like much room for people. Says, “Our tower is bigger than your tower. Nya nya nah nya nya.”
Concept by Firm F | “Cloud City II” / Similar to Topsy Turvy but much slicker. Looks quite sturdy. Says, “Try to knoch THIS down!”
Concept by Firm G | “Tic Tac Toe” / Oh so geometrical and solid as a steel brick. Tells the world, “A giant helped us build this thing.”

For some reason, I was just drawn to the “Tic Tac Toe” design, perhaps because it was so very different. It screams, “France may have it’s Eifel Tower but I could kick its ass!”

Prestige & Grass was, by far, my least favorite. Nothing says bland bureaucrat like 18th century architecture. Horrid.

Cloud City II reminded me of some new Star Trek Borg-collective spacecraft, so of course, I thought it was hip.

But in the end, they go with “Shards.” The designers decided to go cheesy by naming it “Memory Foundations.” You think that’s why it won? Hope not. Not bad, but I’d much prefer their runner-up selection—”Dual Vacuum Hoses.” Naming this entry blandly, “World Cultural Center” was likely the death of it.

They should have let me name it, then it might have had a chance.