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Of course: Because of budget concerns that could be hundreds of millions in overruns, the Port Authority is looking at ways to save money on the World Trade Center transportation hub design. But while the NY Times initially frightens those of you (and us, frankly) who have fallen in love with Santiago Calatrava's design with the words "the Port Authority has begun preparing plans for a more modest alternative," there is this:
In no case, [PA executive director Anthoy Shorris] said, would the hub lose its aboveground aesthetic signature: an elliptical, ribbed, winged structure that Mr. Calatrava has likened to a bird taking flight: a potent symbol of rebirth at the site of the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001.Whether or not that "aesthetic signature" is downsized is unknown, though. The Port Authority will look at ways of lowering the costs of underground elements (more columns, simpler engineering) but the problem is that construction cost inflation has outpaced engineering innovation.“We’re committed to that as an important part of the downtown Manhattan landscape,” Mr. Shorris said.
Below are a few renderings of what the hub is envisioned to be (some designs have been somewhat modified to be "blast-resistant"), complete with a roof that can be opened for ventilation and light. Calatrava has said he wanted the center be feel full of "life, lightness and hope.”
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They could have capitalized on radically altering the landscape forever marking NYC as a serious architectural powerhouse in the new century, but just like the country as a whole... we are going down hill very quickly and will be a complete and total joke.
To me it looks more like a whale skeleton than a bird in flight.
The Empire State Building was built in one year- started in 1930 and finished in 1931, during the beginning of the Great Depression. Cost of completion: $41M. Adjusted for inflation: approx. $500M.
The Chrysler Building was started in September 1928 and completed by May 1930. Cost of completion: $20M. Adjusted for inflation: approx. $240M.
Here we are in 2008, told that a lousy transit center can't be completed with a $2.2 billion dollar budget?
Seriously, these criminals are robbing us of countless millions and then have the gall to ask for more.
The one thing we thought was a lock at the site is now in trouble, just like every other investment in the city's infrastructure. Can we take some money from the millionaire Wall Street fucks who put the country into this economic tailspin we're experiencing?
that thing looks so fucking unbelievably unbuildable. You know they aren't gonna build that thing. Architects and their abstract conceptual mock-ups. In the end it's just gonna be some brick steel dome or something.
to #3:
More regulations today and of course more lazy bastards unions.
to #3:
More regulations today and of course more lazy bastard unions.
Had they started it a few years ago when they should have instead of 6 years of fighting over every tiny detail of that 10 square block radius we would have not only a transit center that said something about NYC, we might also have a memorial.
This is absolutely shameful. All of it.
Looks like this other Calatrava downtown Manhattan project is also doomed: http://curbed.com/archives/2008/04/16/calatravas_tower_o_penthouses_passes_on_to_great_unknown.php#reader_comments
If you want to see some great Calatrava, visit the Milwaukee Art Museum.
Unlike New York, that's a city that knows how to get things done.
This will be the NYC version of Boston's Big Dig!
Embarrassing. Port Authority, if you can't afford it, don't buy the stupid thing. Don't start grubbing around for a discount. And who got it into their head that billion dollar real estate romance and international design stars was the way to memorialize 9/11? Embarrassing, embarrassing, embarrassing.
Watching New York stumble all over its mega projects, especially downtown, is so shameful and infuriating, especially while other cities around the country are exploding. Just look at the stuff Chicago is actually building. There's something seriously wrong with the entire process here.
My Management professor from Baruch was right. That hole in the ground will be there for the next 20 years.
"Here we are in 2008, told that a lousy transit center can't be completed with a $2.2 billion dollar budget? "
It all goes to the lucky connected few who can get the union jobs. Of course, unions' effect of making labor more expensive means that it's less desirable to build things that use workers, so labor wages go up, but less people are employed (see the car industry), and the bill for the cushy union jobs for the Few are passed on to us.
My Management professor from Baruch was right. That hole in the ground will be there for the next 20 years.
Aren't they already at work on the foundation for 1 WTC aka the Freedom Tower?
Call me a Philistine but I always thought that thing looked more like a fish skeleton than anything else, and yes, I knew it would never get built.
I wish it were different, but grand architectural statements in our public buildings are a thing of the past. When the money is there, the arguments about what should get built go back and forth. Then the money runs out when the economy goes bad, and you're left with something utilitarian, with or without Fedders.
Come to think of it why NOT put a Fedders palace there. Perfect symbol of where we are right now.
www.forgotten-ny.com
Yeah, it did look like a fish skeleton.
Just build something akin to the old Penn Station and be done with it. Nice gothic architecture. Oh that's right, stone is too expensive.
It's kind of a dumb and over-architected. What's going to be there, the 1-2-3 and the PATH? It looks great from the inside, I think the half-arch columns are sweet. I would keep that interior below ground and chop off the top part. Calatrava can do a lot of things up top that would be a lot cheaper.
Unfortunately it's one of the few things about the WTC area designs that everyone seems to love. So what'll happen is they'll neuter it in an attempt to save money and it'll end up turning out to be completely passionless.
I can think of many colors, color combinations, and materials that would make this look a lot better than the all white motif. Calatrava's gotta stop with the white already.
Oh, and edgar, I wouldn't vote Democrat if I had your opinion.
Labor is expensive, but it's the rules and regs that are really slowing construction down.
Plus architects and consultants. ;)
Oh, and edgar, I wouldn't vote Democrat if I had your opinion.
Labor is expensive, but it's the rules and regs that are really slowing construction down.
Plus architects and consultants. ;)
Weren't we told the MTA was in dire need of money? Wasn't that the reason the mayor wanted to tax every moving vehicle (weather they had a mass transit option or not)?
This is like a sub-prime mortgage! Buy/build something you can afford MTA!