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From: John Young <jya@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
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Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 18:42:18 -0700
Steve, maybe you know John Lawson, Philly architect once with
Guirgola who worked on the Liberty Bell stuff. He said not long
ago there was a limp attempt to save those structures but they
were not sufficiently beloved to overcome the desire to smash
the not-so-old in order to erect more capacious really-fake-old
which is immensely crowd pleasing in that when tourists are
narcotized with smarmy patriotic blear they spend more in
spasms of false remembrance of rock-solid legacy.
We see that surrounding WTC what with all the outpouring of
beloved blear short attention span. The reconstituion of quaint
street patterns should please shoppers who saw no inspiration
in 110 stories of stainless steel banality until they were shown
endlessly exploding and collapsing, but who did belove the
underground immensity of shopping, warm, protected, scaled
to fit wallets.
That the streets to be restored were once lively and unpredictable
entrails of indigestive discontent and vehicular assault (as the
streets around Wall Street and WTC sacred sites are at the
moment) rather than exterior malls Drivitted of banal architecture
to drive attention toward attractive purchasables (goods and
stocks), is not to be remembered except as photos in New York
Historical Society where the hagiography of beloved Wall Street
cum WTC is aflowering.
You may know of architectural historians who consult with
spasmodicly do-any-style architects to help guide designers
in historic re-invention that will gain Landmarks Commission
approval of structures which when built look cheap and
ill conceived (as with Hardy Holtzman Pheiffer's) which
they are, and need all possible signage to happy-drug
TV-remote-control addicts who heartburn for Wall Street and
WTC spectacular collapses.
