With apologies for a database collapse that impeded things here this morning, let's get to the news...
In the latest round of up-is-down, black-is-white action from the newly re-re-energized World Trade Center site, the architecture of this hallowed bit of American ground just got a little bit more British, and a major chunk of the future tenants of the Freedom Tower might just turn out to be the kind of federal agencies some think of when you utter the phrase "police state." The latter bit of news comes from the Wall Street Journal (free to non-subscribers for 10 days!), which reports that the Port Authority is wooing Department of Homeland Security agencies, the Secret Service, the FBI, the federal courts, the Marshals Service, and other touchy-feely facets of the national government. Maybe "Fort Zero" was more right than we thought.
Then comes word that another British lord will be gracing the Pit with his design: Richard Rogers will be the architect on Tower 3, joining Lord Norman Foster, who's been assigned Tower 2. Now that developer Larry Silverstein has made nice with the P.A. and all, he's cracking the whip on his team, demanding Rogers and Tower 4 architect Fumihiko Maki each kick out concept drawings before the fall, with construction set to start next year. Meanwhile, Larry pauses for a soundbite: "The lack of uniformity makes for tremendous excitement." Excited yet?
· Who Might Fill Freedom Tower? First of All, Feds [WSJ]
· Richard Rogers to Design Tower at Ground Zero [NYT]