05/29: Ground Zero

I visited the World Trade Center site today, which is still mostly under construction. The PATH station looks like post-war London Brutalism, a crude version of something Alison and Peter Smithson might have designed in the scarcity of the late 1940s and 1950s. The Calatrava Station, which will replace the existing temporary structure, is looking as menacing and interesting as it ever will with only the beginnings of the precious while cladding installed. The Freedom Tower is looking a bit dirty, and is just as easily appreciated from afar. I’m not sure how much has been value engineered out of that building, but the details are not memorable. Between that and the $24 entrance fee to the memorial, it begs the question how we can justify a private developer operating on hallowed ground while pitchforks were raised at the suggestion of an Islamic Community Center a few blocks away.