Results tagged “davidchilds”

Parties involved with the design and construction of Freedom Tower were happy with tests in the New Mexico desert where a model of the structure was detonated. A partner at architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Carl Galioto, told the Observer, "The specimen performed beautifully, far exceeding our expectations."

In yesterday’s NY Times, Nicolai Ouroussoff notes the onset of 21st-century medievalism, the siege-like architectural style that has surfaced since 9/11.

, which chronicles these affairs from the point of view of the novel design team with which he collaborated. He also chucked a few zingers in the direction of the architect David Childs and former Governor Pataki. Left relatively unscathed was the developer Larry Silverstein, owner of the acclaimed new building (7 World Trade Center) in which the event was held.

Today's special NY Times section, Broken Ground, which has an article, "The Hole in the City's Heart" and a timeline of the rebuilding at the World Trade Center. There are maps, a timeline, and photographs as well as interviews and looks at the relationships involved. There's a great quote from Nina Libeskind about Pataki () and some interesting ones from her husband, Daniel, the World Trade Center's master planner, who original design for Freedom Tower was totally re-imagined by David Childs. At the end of the article, Libeskind discusses the current state of the overall project, at the heels of last week's unveiling of designs for Towers 2, 3 and 4:

Mr. Libeskind says he retains faith that the new World Trade Center will be “memorable’’ because of the combined talents — “It’s not some schlock architects’’ — joined together under the umbrella of his master plan.

Continue reading "Five Years of Wondering What Will Be There"

We're up to Version 3.0: Architect David Childs revealed new designs for Freedom Tower, the centerpiece of the World Trade Center's redevelopment. The NY Times reports that the biggest change to the design is encasing the "187-foot-high, bomb-resistant concrete base in a screen of glass prisms rather than metal panels." When Childs revealed a redesign last year, one with a concrete base, people derided it for being like a "concrete bunker," albeit it one that would satisfy NYPD concerns.

Mr. Childs now proposes to cover the base in panels of laminated glass with a saw-tooth face made of prisms in a vertical array. "You know this from high-school physics class," Mr. Childs said. "The sun hits the prism and breaks into color."

Continue reading "Freedom Tower Redesigned Again"

Whoa! If you love to see giant buildings getting torn apart by wrecking balls, you should make your way up to the corner of 41st and 1st. A huge bite has been taken out of the old Con Ed Waterside Steam Plant. The smokestacks are still there-- but not for long! At this rate, the whole complex will be demolished in a couple of months. Back in October, the RealDeal reported that two towers will be built on the site-- a residential building by Richard Meier, and an office building by David Childs. No offense to those guys, but we're sort of sad to see this last vestige of industrial New York vanish from the East Side.

Or at least that's what World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein promised yesterday, now that he and the Port Authority have agreed on terms that divvy up control of Ground Zero's various components. "I have instructed our construction team to mobilize into the site tomorrow so that we can begin construction of the Freedom Tower immediately," he told the media. The Port Authority says that the eastern section of the WTC site will be excavated by next year, in order for Silverstein to start building his towers (Towers 2, 3, and 4 in the plan). At this point, (Gothamist can barely remember what's supposed to be at Ground Zero, so we've been going back to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's website about the WTC site - but we're not sure if all the changes have been updated on it.)

Sundays in August are apparently Real Estate days at the New York Times. Not that we're complaining, since today actually has two pretty good stories (and neither in the real Real Estate section!).

If you've ever wondered how the highest profile skyscraper in the world was redesigned, wonder no more: The NY Times published a look at how architects cranked out the new design, with political officials peering over one shoulder, an anxious developer at the other, and the expectations of the NYPD looming. Besides enjoying the fact that Skidmore Owings & Merrill architects would turn to Lombardi's for their pizza runs ("three meals in a row, straight - 8 to 10 pies" according to the project mananger), Gothamist found this bit about the Freedom Tower's chief architect, David Childs, and the tower's original architect, Daniel Libeskind, fascinating:

:Mr. Childs and the architect Daniel Libeskind, who created the site's master plan, said that they never approached the level of contention they had reached while working on the original tower. As Mr. Childs and his team slaved away, [John] Cahill and [Stefan] Pryor made it their mission to keep Mr. Libeskind in the loop, and ultimately he called the design "even better than the tower we had before."

Continue reading "How Freedom Tower Was Redesigned"

, but a spokeswoman for Childs said, "I don't think we have any comment. I can say with almost 100 percent certainty that David Childs has never seen this design." Because big-name architects probably don't pay attention to what other big-name architects are doing, right?

The new Freedom Tower design was presented yesterday, showing the more fortress-like design (the NY Post calls it "Fort Zero") that's supposed to meet the NYPD's standards for safer and more bomb-resistant buildings. The jury is out: It's less ugly than before (at least this design had one vision, versus two stitched together), but it's still...lacking. But safer, so it seems New Yorkers are being asked to choose between safe designs and ones that can really lift people's spirits. Curbed had instant reviews yesterday (a mixed-bag), and today, the NY Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff's assessment is, as expected, withering: "The new obelisk-shaped tower, which stands on an enormous 20-story concrete pedestal, evokes a gigantic glass paperweight with a toothpick stuck on top." However, the criticism has come into a new stage, where people are pitying architect David Childs for having to whip together a design in a few weeks.

The supposedly safer Freedom Tower designs will be unveiled today, and it's more streamlined. And maybe more boring - but any hopes of something interesting went away when Larry Silverstein got more involved with the design. The NY Times writes that the tower's "height and proportion, centered antenna and cut-away corners, tall lobbies and pinstripe facade [evokes] - both deliberately and coincidentally - the sky-piercing twins it is meant to replace." The tower, designed by David Childs and his firm, Skidmore Owings & Merrill, is now set further back and has a more reinforced base; there's no more spire, windmills on the roof, latticework, and other elements of the Daniel Libeskind deign. It will be, however, still be 1,776 feet tall. The wild card is when Freedom Tower will be completed (2009? 2010?); an interesting point is that now the simpler design may help save money and time.

There's a very cool article in the NY Times about the "kinetic, interactive stainless-steel wall" being designed for 7 World Trade Center. Because the base of 7 WTC is a Con Ed substation, architect David Childs is sheathing it in glass, and has worked with James Carpenter Design Associates to design a sort of sculptural installation: There are panels of prisms that will cause pedestrian's reflections to move along the wall. Gothamist loves the idea of capturing the movement of people walking during their day; one of our favorite things is seeing people cross the walkways in the windows of Grand Central. Plus, inside the lobby will be a "floor-to-ceiling, 14-by-70-foot wall of acid-etched translucent glass illuminated by whitish light-emitting diodes, created by Mr. Carpenter and the artist Jenny Holzer." Who knows when Freedom Tower will be built (yes, Daniel Libeskind, we read your Op-Ed last week) but there will be 7 WTC, which has gone really fast...and it's really tall.

This is what Donald Trump's proposed World Trade Center design looks like: Pretty much like the old one. The Daily News points out that Trump's model was on MSNBC last week, and that engineer Ken Gardner and architect Harry Belton's model and plans can be seen at MakeNYNYAgain.com. No joke, Trump is serious about hating Freedom Tower. Gardner is a Trump crony from plnning his tower in Chicago. Gothamist is reeling from this Trump chestnut: "Why are we building this monstrous 'skeleton' known as Freedom Tower? If Freedom Tower is built, the terrorists win." UGH. What a cheap way to rile up people, because the terrorists win when capitalists act stupid, okay?

Governor George Pataki, realizing even in the waning months as a potential lame duck governor that he needs to take action with the rebuilding of the World Trade Center, has installed one of his aides to lead the effort. Other aides say that yesterday's announcement that John P. Cahill would be moving from Albany to help jumpstart the rebuilding, which has taken its fair share of knocks in the past year, from Goldman Sachs deciding not to move to the site and the NYPD's criticism of Freedom Tower's safety, was meant to restore confidence. Cahill will also be drumming up more fundraising efforts to attract money to the project. Gothamist would like Cahill to know that we wish him luck - you better get everything straightened out before Pataki's term is over.

Just about a year and a half after a final design had been revealed, Governor Pataki, Mayor Bloomberg and even developer Larry Silverstein have agreed Freedom Tower needs a design to address safety and security concerns. The past week had been filled with the NYPD's very public unhappiness with the current design and its "unsafeness", citing things like the building being too close to the street. This could delay construction for at least another year - and construction is already way off track. It's unclear what the political ramifications will be, but there's been a bit of hoo-ha-ing already, with Assembly Leader Sheldon Silver criticized Pataki and Bloomberg last week for the floundering development and Senator Schumer commending them yesterday for making this decision.