What should replace the World Trade Centre?

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In the Michael Moore thread both Ned and Mr Moore think a memorial should go up in its place. However as mentioned this would deprive the city of what would appear to be much needed space. Certainly the rebuilding of London after the blitz the actual attempts to build new relevant and useful buildings were (at least initially) seen as the most vital type of memorial. Personally I would advocate an architctural wonder to replace it, to celebrate the lives of those lost and to show resolve - but also a useful building. But what do you think?

― Pete, Wednesday, 19 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The Center for American Supremacy, a massive building that looks like a map of the lower 48 when seen from the moon.

― dave q, Wednesday, 19 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

― Kodanshi, Wednesday, 19 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

As in "Fuck You!"

― Kodanshi, Wednesday, 19 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

a park.

― jel, Wednesday, 19 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Since nearly 6,000 people died there, I'm really wary of replacing that space with another tall office building or buildings. I understand that some buildings will have to be replaced. I'm not religious, but I think ground on which so many people died, and from which many bodies will not be recovered, is somewhat sacred. There should be space in which that absence is noted and where people can grieve. I like what was done in place of the federal building in Oklahoma - where the absence of the people that died was marked. I also think that the era of the superskyscraper is over. These buildings embodied hubris in the first place, but building more is just denial to me. We're going to see a lot of greed replacing grief in the coming days, and we're already seeing it - thousands and thousands of jobs lost among talk of "resolve" and "rebuilding". Something tells me, though, that insurance companies might be a little more reticent about this. And I think there will be significant popular sentiment against simply replacing the buildings.

― Kerry, Wednesday, 19 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Kodanshi: what direction is that birdflip pointing? Washington or Toronto?

― mark s, Wednesday, 19 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Another thing that people fail to take into consideration is that any superskyscraper project takes anywhere from 5-8 years to build. I believe that lately it's taken longer than usual because of economic uncertainty. And that's after all the negotiating, planning and designing. So if people need that space, they're gonna be sitting around a lonnnng time.

― Kerry, Wednesday, 19 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

There was a brilliant brilliant piece in the New Left Review — not a phrase I use often — abt four yrs ago, about the commodification of SPACE in New York, and how much skyscraper space is actually completely EMPTY. Turns out it's compltely the opposite of best use for a big city, even at the most basic level. (eg inhabitants driven to the edges of the city to gamble on an in-flux of companies and industry HQs which never arrive because — among other things — commuting is such a nightmare because all living space is v.far: company moves to dallas and/or taiwan, huge blocks languish empty).

― mark s, Wednesday, 19 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

any superskyscraper project takes anywhere from 5-8 years to build

In the West, coalitions and skyscrapers take a lot of time to build. But, as Rem Koolhaas points out admiringly in his book 'S,M,L,XL', in China they can knock one up in a few months.

Koolhaas had an early project to cover the whole of Manhattan with a huge dome, didn't he? I think the time may have come for that. The thicker the better.

― Momus, Wednesday, 19 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I think my numbers were a bit inflated - I just woke up and wasn't thinking clearly. The actual building of the Sears Tower, for example, was three years. But the World Trade Center was an 11-year project. So you're looking at a 5-10 year deal, and I can't imagine the disputes over this one.

It seems as if the World Financial Center in Shanghai is taking forever, tho.

― Kerry, Wednesday, 19 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Kodanshi: what direction is that birdflip pointing? Washington or Toronto?
-- mark s (mark@evazev.demon.co.uk), September 19, 2001.

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Urrr...I dunno. At those who attacked America???

― Kodanshi, Wednesday, 19 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

inhabitants driven to the edges of the city to gamble on an in-flux of companies and industry HQs which never arrive because ? among other things ? commuting is such a nightmare because all living space is v.far: company moves to dallas and/or taiwan, huge blocks languish empty).

Yes, this is exactly what happened when Sears, Roebuck moved out of the Sears Tower and into a massive HQ in the western 'burbs. Of course, they also cut a bajillion jobs. For a time, it was being reported that the tower was half-empty. That might have been an exaggeration, but there were a staggering number of vacancies for a while. The WTC was reported to have had 98% occupancy at the time of the attack. I don't know what other vacancy rates are in NYC, though - NYC has density issues that Chicago doesn't have.

― Kerry, Wednesday, 19 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

There's something deeply wrong with me because the first answer that poppped into my head when I read this question was fudge. I'm so perplexed at this baffling answer that I can't think of a more sensible one.

― Dan Perry, Wednesday, 19 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I always liked the twin towers, and wouldn't mind seeing the exact same thing built again.

― Sean, Wednesday, 19 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i'll second dan - let's put all the money that would go into rebuilding the towers, make a huge pile of fudge and feed the world, let them know it's...yeah, um, alright.

― Geoff, Wednesday, 19 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Doesn't Dan want a Diet Coke with that much fudge?

― Momus, Wednesday, 19 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

NO, I don't want a Diet Coke! *grumble*

― Dan Perry, Wednesday, 19 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

What kinda fudge?

― Mr Noodles, Wednesday, 19 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'm old enough to remember that Philadelphia used to have a local ordinance forbidding any buildings to be taller than the statue of William Penn on top of City Hall. They lifted that ordinance sometime during the Eighties -- Philadelphia has (IMHO) one of the nicest skylines of any major American cities, although I don't know whether the lifting of the ordinance has had that great of an economic impact.

A lot of the businesses that were located in the effected lower Manhattan area before Tuesday have relocated to Jersey City. They're saying that the move is temporary, though I really do wonder about that.

As limited as space is in Manhattan, I also think that the area where the WTC stood should be left vacant, or have a memorial of some sort (a la Oklahoma City). At least at this point in time, it seems a little obscene to rebuild on that spot.

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Wednesday, 19 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Also, it took a long time for the WTC to attain that 98% occupancy rate it had on Tuesday. Initially, it was seen as something of a white elephant -- until the late Eighties, a big chunk of its occupancy came from the State of New York.

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Wednesday, 19 September 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

four months pass...

is there any way of searching through old threads in a non-difficult searching way?

the dome over manhattan idea was over the downtown and was from richard buckminster fuller.

― richard john gillanders, Sunday, 10 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

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