"The problem seems to stem from a general lack of taste by Libeskind, Pataki, Silverstein"

Amen to that!!! Pataki just wants something, anything, tall to put his name on. Liebeskind is tailoring the Emperor's new clothes and woe to any of us who lack his "vision", while Silverstein gives new meaning to the words "avaricious" and "landlord".

Apparently architects have a very limited palate which is not very good. We really need a Beaux Arts revival!

ho-mee-home:

Very good point especially as I never claimed to be anything like an expert, merely someone expressing his opinion. Although I have studied architecture recreationally for years and consider myself slightly more familiar with it that average lay person. Now if you could extricate yourself from my throat which you so deftly jumped down, we can all get back to the business of trying to make our city a better place to live for everyone - "experts" or not.

This look likes a family photo. Smells like all the building money is with a very small homogenous group and yet the entire population of the city will have to live & work with these things.

Oh, and I hate the name "Freedom Tower", too. The 1950's commie witch-hunts were an attack on freedom. 9/11 was an attack on non-crazy religious nuts. How about the "Imagine There's No Religion Tower"?

i second not calling the main building the freedom tower, it makes me cringe every time I hear that.

Tim N. - sticks and stones, so they say.

Jmchez - I didn't say that only architects could critique architecture. What I said was that those who speak with such authority are only voicing their layman's opinions....same as mine would be considered.

Drewo - your Hollywood selling to Joe America is not the same as a group of the best architects selling to new yorkers (both are generally more sophisticated). Yours is not a good analogy.

Click the link to find out more about the "developer"....

http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=15459

i know good architecture and none of these buildings resembles an erect penis. i'm miffed.

Homee...

I hope someday to be as good an architect as you are a pretentious asshole. Thanks for the advice.

#9 - "Ayn Rand is spinning in her grave."

Yes, Ayn Rand would have preferred something much worse.

The Fountainhead was a curse upon architecture.

The fact remains that the most iconic designs were those of the Think team, the twin lattice towers. However Pataki forced the committee to pick Liebeskind's design because the 9/11 families whines about how the lattice towers reminded them too much of the original buildings.

Incredibly Libeskind's original design is nowhere to be found and the Freedom Tower looks like one of the original rejected designs. That makes his selection a fraud; what's getting built uis not what supposedly won.

Also, Homee's logic of allowing only architects to criticize architecture is pure looniness.

Homee

The majority of the public flock to the movies for the latest big budget blockbusters. Despite all the filmakers' experience and technoglogical know-how, that still doesn't make most of these films any less dismal.

The same can be said for these building designs - bland and unimaginative. Especially for the greatest city in the world.

Please stop calling it the "Freedom Tower." It sounds too much like a George W. Bush-ism.

"Pink elephant in the room"? Did Gothamist watch Sex in The City last night? A pink elephant would imply that one of these towers is gay.

simon, #3 is not exactly the same as the times tower. It has diagonal bracing, and, uh, it is a skyscraper, but that's it really. #2 is meant to face the park with the diamond roof, and it doesn't bother me at all that the viewer would have to be downtown or in Jersey to see that feature. I can't see the Brooklyn Bridge from my apartment but that doesn't minimize it. #4 is bland I will admit, but there will be revisions with all the negative reviews of Maki's design.

With all the work and education, these are the architects we let design our cities, yes. In your pollyanna-ish world of every building pleasing you (or a small group of pessimists and complainers), I am sure these men would be imprisoned. But to the majority of the public, these designs are good. Deal with it.

Wow, that is a gorgeous skyline!!!

that should say I don't think we've had a decent architect since before WW-II... I was too quick with the enter key.

at least they're office buildings and can be cleared and replaced at some point in the future. Unfortunately we're stuck with those upper class project white box residential buildings from the 50's 60's that will probably be around forever. apartment buildings are close to impossible to remove. ugh. I don't think we've had since before WW-II. Even these glass box structures we seem to be stuck on today were devised back in the 30s.

These are generic designs. Libeskind should have gotten the sack by now. The problem seems to stem from a general lack of taste by Libeskind, Pataki, Silverstein and who knows whatother people are making the decisions.

Ayn Rand is spinning in her grave.