“The skyline is back.”
“For the last three years, our collective focus has been on ground zero. Meanwhile, some of the world’s most prominent architects have been quietly pressing ahead with plans that will remake the city’s skyline on a level not seen since the World Trade Center was built in the 1970’s. The most remarkable expression of that shift is a growing list of stunning residential towers designed by celebrated talents like Richard Meier, Santiago Calatrava, Christian Portzamparc and Enrique Norten. But it also includes visions of corporate gluttony: colossal mega-structures that are essentially hybrids of residential skyscrapers and suburban office parks. And it coincides with the slow but inevitable erosion of the boundaries that have defined the edges of the Manhattan skyline for a century.”
This exciting article (at least for us New Yorkers) is from the New York Times. Thanks to my architect friend Shabbir Kazmi for bringing it to my attention. Shabbir’s own very beautiful entry in the competition to design a memorial at the WTC site can be found here. (Over 5,000 teams and individuals submitted designs.) Be sure to look at the slide show in the NYT article.