Op Round-Up

Here's a recent smattering of Op-Ed's, Commentaries, and good 'ol architectural Criticism:

Rethinking Ground Zero
New York Times Editorial:

Three and a half years after the attack on Lower Manhattan, too many of the elaborate and even inspiring plans for rebuilding seem frozen on paper...particularly true for the building that the world most connects with the idea of rebirth at the World Trade Center site:...Freedom Tower...a stunning creation forged by the opposing architects Daniel Libeskind and David Childs.

Unfortunately, calling Freedom Tower a stunning creation pretty much discredits any other opinion in the editorial.

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Move the United Nations Downtown
by Fred Bernstein:

By taking space at ground zero [7 WTC & Freedom Tower], the United Nations would solve its space problem, practically overnight. But more than that, it would capture the public's imagination...The Freedom Tower could, in a way no one predicted, become a true symbol of freedom.

I do believe Bernstein proposed this scenario a while ago in his Twin Piers 9/11 Memorial. Moving the UN to the WTC site makes a lot of sense (practically and symbolically) to me, but it's boggling that they apparently aren't even considering it as an option.

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Regarding the 180-Degree Turn From a 90-Degree Standard
by Roger K. Lewis:

Strong architectural concepts reflect project conditions as well as the creativity of the designer. But an innovative idea, once executed, can catch the eye of other designers and appeal to them for purely visual reasons. The catchy, aesthetically stimulating idea then begins appearing elsewhere, and before long it has become little more than a faddish, overused motif.

Mr. Lewis argues against angles like it's taking over architecture, though buildings by the likes of Libeskind, Gehry and Morphosis are definitely the exception, not the rule.

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Architecture Elsewhere
by Michael Blowhard:

That Brutal Joint points to the comments on this post, where the neverending tug-of-war between Classicism and Contemporary continues.

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These and similar pieces always seem to remind me of Jean Renoir's classic film The Rules of the Game, specifically a quote by Octave, a character played by the director himself, who says (paraphrased): "All of the world's problems exist because everybody has their own opinion and everybody believes they're right."