Following yesterday's Insta-Reviews of the proceedings in The Pit, today brings appraisals from two august architectural critics...
1) Nicolai Ouroussoff: "The gutting of the memorial is only the latest step in a decision-making process that has virtually scorned the potential of architecture to address the magnitude of what happened on that day. The site remains so politically and emotionally charged that every sane proposal has unraveled. One hopes, however perversely, that as the hollowness of the plans becomes hard to deny, the process will simply grind to a halt and have to be rethought once again." [NYTimes]
2) The Guttersniper: "As many years as Santiago Calatrava has been involved with the project—two? three? we're getting logy—he has been militating like a freak on fire for the removal of the thing that later became the Snøhetta museum: the big ol' mass of something on the southwest corner of Greenwich and Fulton. Why, as Thomas Friedman might ask? Because he wanted his subterranean train station to be all airy and open—as airy and open, in fact, as he had always drawn it. Yes, for years (however many) all the renderings of Grand Santi Terminal have shown a column-free state in which it could only exist with the preemptive demolition of the museum block above. Something was always sketched in on that corner, even after the Vikings sailed. But now the LMDC has granted Calatrava's wish. So the winner is Santiago Calatrava. And his client Frank Sciame." [The Gutter]