Yep, They're Twins Alright

Following up on yesterday's post about Donald Trump unveiling his design to rebuild the Twin Towers, NY1 reports that the design is available online. Apparently the design is one that's been on the internet for a while now (linked in yesterday's post), designed by Kenneth Gardner and Herbert Belton. Further it appears that Trump is merely endorsing this design rather than commissioning a designer for something new. No surprises there.


Libeskind/SOM :: Gardner/Belton

If you're a reader of this page, you've probably noticed that I don't think rebuilding the Twin Towers is the right thing to do, even though I'm not in love with Libeskind's master plan and the hybrid Freedom Tower. Instead of rushing into one or the other, perhaps it's time for all interested parties to step back and reevaluate what's going on at the WTC site, so New York doesn't end up with something that hurts the city, and therefore the country. Money, politics and symbolism seem to be overshadowing good urban planning, architecture, and other concerns on a path towards something either chaotic and confused or uninspired and boring.

Update: Newsday.com covers Trump's presentation of the Twin Tower design. In an over-the-top manner, the billionaire describes the winning master plan design "like a junk yard, a series of broken-down angles that don't match each other. And we have to live with this for hundreds of years?...It is the worst pile of crap architecture I've ever seen in my life." What he's not grasping is that the master plan designs aren't set; they'll be designed be individual architects and firms in the future and will much less resemble what's in the master plan much like Freedom Tower doesn't resemble Libeskind's 1,776-foot tower. And although they don't "match each other", the angles are part of a group gesture that creates a focus on the void of the memorial and site of the original towers.

Further, Trump describes the Freedom Tower as skeleton-like, saying "If we rebuild the World Trade Center in the form of a skeleton, the terrorists win." Ironically, Libeskind and Governor Pataki used that very word to describe the THINK team's runner-up bid for the WTC site, the association helping to pave the way for the architect's winning scheme. It looks like Trump is pulling a page from the person he's now trying to destroy. And in another subtle move, Trump will use his TV show, The Apprentice, to further his cause.