The first platform of the long-awaited Santiago Calatrava-designed World Trade Center Transportation Hub opened last week, stunning visitors with its $3.94 billion beautywell, not quite. David Dunlap of the Times says the thing looks "cheap" thanks to "clunky fixtures and some rough workmanship." Joints in the steel beams are "conspicuously unfinished" and a train signal was installed directly in front of an iridescent mosaic mural. Some details may be smoothed over, but the architects note that "concerns of time, budget and scheduling have often taken precedence over quality." [NYT; previously]
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