Yamasaki's posthumous critique of the new World Trade Center

2015-06-25T14:07:00-04:00

I must ask myself if we want to design buildings for people to fit some preconceived idea of a glass world. Is this really the future of cities?" – Minoru Yamasaki

While the critical response to the new 1WTC has been, at best, one of resigned acceptance, the original Twin Towers didn't receive much fanfare either when they first opened in 1973. Ada Louise Huxtable, then architecture critic for The New York Times, wasn't much of a fan of Minoru Yamasaki's design: "I, for one, am not in thrall to size; build very big and you can build very bad—and the very bad will be inescapable."

Yamasaki responded, defending his monoliths of slitted windows with an attack on the very concept that characterizes the new 1WTC and Manhattan's skyline today – glass: "As for mirror glass, I detest it, because buildings with it look to me as if they have cataracts, showing no live within. On the interior, it produces strange reflections of lights, objects and people which gives me a feeling I can only describe as eerie."

Yamaski's complete letter was published in CLOG's 2014 "World Trade Center" issue. For more news on the World Trade Center:

Foster's Out, Ingels' In: ...

Archinect - News

Yamasaki's posthumous critique of the new World Trade Center