WTC Rebuilding Documentary

[JMGarcia]

I am told that there will be a 1 hour special on rebuilding the WTC with interviews of all the major players on tonight 8/22 on chanel 13 at 10pm.

[Freedom Tower]

JM, sorry to bother you but channel 13 is what station? I don't live in New York and would like to see if I can find the same program on a different channel.

[JMGarcia]

Its the local PBS station. I doubt if it will be shown outside of NY but you never know.

[Freedom Tower]

Thanks for the info JM. I'll call up one of my friends in NYC and tell them to tape it. Hopefully someone will be home.

[NoyokA]

I tried to get home in time, but I could only catch the later half and missed the WTC segment. A very interesting show though and I will tune in more often for it, the Metro channel also has programming like this.

[Harmonicaman]

Is this the documentary you're talking about?

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/newyork/filmmore/index.html

It sounds like something I'd like to watch...

[NoyokA]

No. I believe it was New York Voices. Either way Im too tired to wait for it to re-air tonight. Im going to sleep, and hopefully it will be on sometime tommorow.

[JMGarcia]

Nothing new was really said. During the Libeskind interview you could see a number of models in the background with very slight variations on the Freedom Tower but it wasn't really clear. He re-iterated that the spire would have restaurant decks, gardens, and an observation area with broadcasting equipment above. He pointed out the restaurant/observation area as being where the final slope starts with the area above being for broadcast equipment. He likened his working with Childs to Yamasaki working with Emory Roth on the original with Yamaski creating the overall massing/concept and Emory Roth dealing with the plumbing, structural, and other internal arrangements and details.

The rendering they kept showing was this one...
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze26pnp/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/NewVideo2.jpg

They also interviewed some political correspondent from Atlantic Magazine (who's name I forget) about the process. He thought the pace and process was about right but that Pataki's ground breaking for the Republican Convention was too politically motivated. He also stated (what we all already know) that Pataki pretty much chose the Libeskind plan on his own after listening to public input - taking some's opinion and ignoring other's. Of course, by trying to please everyone he basically really pleased no one completely. He gave a large memorial area to the families but it wasn't enough for them. He gave Silverstein/Westfleed most of their space back but dictated the design and site plan to them and forced Silverstein to build a spire he doesn't want. The spire wouldn't even be there except for public input that restoring the skyline was important but of course this falls short in the eyes of many just like the memorial area falls short in the family's eyes and the overall plan falls short in Silverstein's eyes.

The Atlantic guy also said he preferred THINK's design but that Libeskind's was very good also.

As a side note, I recently got one of the new DVRs (Digitial Video Recorders) from Time Warner Cable. Its very cool for recording, pausing etc. but is also great for tracking shows down you want to see. Look up the show and it finds the time its own for you and records it.

[Fabb]

He likened his working with Childs to Yamasaki working with Emory Roth on the original with Yamaski creating the overall massing/concept and Emory Roth dealing with the plumbing, structural, and other internal arrangements and details.


That's what I thought at first.
But how about the position of the spire that Childs wanted to modify ? That's more important than plumbing.

[JMGarcia]

True, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the spire still appear to be at side of the tower although structurally it might be part of the tower. In other words, the massing may appear the same. Time will tell I guess.

I look at it this way, they both know they are going to have to agree on the final product before releasing it because any sort of public squable over a released design would be extremely bad politically for everyone.

[JMGarcia]

I should also add that Libeskind made a real point that the spiralling up of the towers was, to him, the important concept in the design for how it worked in the skyline and in relation to the Statue of Liberty. Because of this, the height of the office portion of the tower becomes extremely important. Too low and the other towers could not spiral down and still be visible over the surrounding 750 feet towers. In other words, the lowest part of the spiral has to be around 750-800 feet. The highest portion needs to be high enough so that the spiral is apparent starting from the 750 foot base.

(Edited by JMGarcia at 10:55 am on Aug. 23, 2003)

[NoyokA]

Thanks JM, I have a good impression of Libeskind, he has a good heart, and is the good guy of this entire process.