Archinect - News

A look back at Archinect on September 11th, 2001

2021-09-11T20:02:00-04:00

I was staying at a friend’s apartment in the heart of Hollywood on the evening of September 10th, 2001. I had to wake up unnaturally early the next morning to move my car to avoid getting a parking ticket. I vividly recall the eery feeling squeezed into the tiny old elevator as I descended the building with more neighbors than I would have expected to be awake at that hour. Nobody said anything. I could tell something was off. The moment I got into my car the radio quickly caught me up. In fact, it was right at the moment the second plane hit the towers… a little after the 6 am deadline to move my car out of the streetcleaner’s way. I don’t remember re-parking my car or returning to the apartment, but I clearly remember spending the next many hours jumping between the television, my phone, and my computer, taking in the horror and working it out with friends, family, and colleagues in real-time.

Screenshot of Archinect from September 2001

Archinect was only 4 years old at that time....

New memorial at World Trade Center site to honor those affected by 9/11-related illnesses

2019-02-04T16:09:00-05:00

The New York Post reports that the 9/11 Memorial and Museum plans to open a section dedicated to those who’ve died or have grappled with 9/11-related illnesses—first responders, survivors, and New Yorkers who lived close to the World Trade Center site during the recovery efforts among them.

According to the New York Post, the designers of the landmark Reflecting Absence 9/11 Memorial, architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker, were also in charge of planning this new memorial which is expected to be finished by May 30.

"Architecture is a field of repression": Daniel Libeskind on childhood memories, trauma, and architecture

2015-11-19T17:05:00-05:00

"You repress almost everything to produce a building," states Daniel Libeskind during a long and wide-ranging conversation with the architectural historian Gillian Darley in the context of the exhibition Childhood ReCollections: Memory in Design at the Roca London Gallery.

"Everything is repressed because it has to fit into the context, it has to be stylized, it has to appeal to clients, it has to be normal," he contends. "But I always thought, try to show what has been repressed in architecture. It’s very difficult because people don’t like it."

Their conversation touches on a number of Libeskind's central concerns and makes frequent reference to both his biography and his oeuvre. Here are some of the highlights (check out the full video below):

On his childhood:

"I was lucky to have that experience of... the mythology of New York, which is arriving by boat as an immigrant. You know, woken up, 4 o’clock in the morning by my mother with my sister, go up, wake up, 'you’re going to see Ne...

NYC's Liberty Park comes into view

2013-11-25T11:34:00-05:00

“They have taken what could have been a barren rooftop and turned it into much needed public space for the community...Because it’s elevated, it’s out of the flow of the street...There’ll be a sense of calm". - Catherine McVay Hughes, chairwoman of Community Board 1 in Lower Manhattan

David W Dunlap reports that although plans for Liberty Park have been mostly unknown till now, last month images of St. Nicholas Church and Liberty Park appeared on the website of the architect Santiago Calatrava, who is designing the church. The park was rendered in sufficient detail that it was possible for the first time to understand its basic design. The principal designer is Joseph E. Brown, a landscape architect who is the chief innovation officer at Aecom.

9/11 Memorial Museum: Not Now (all about $$)

2011-12-30T14:37:48-05:00

NYC mayor says money dispute will keep 9/11 museum from opening on time.

Since its opening on 9/12 this year, 1 million tourists visited the site. Stakes are really high.. It is all about money now.

The Port Authority, which owned the trade center and is building the museum, claims that the foundation owes it $300 million. The foundation claims that the authority actually owes it $140 million, because of delays in the project.

On Thursday, the memorial foundation set up a board of directors for the planned performing arts center, for the first time. The board includes trade center developer Larry Silverstein, Disney executive Zenia Mucha and Brookfield Properties co-chair John 'public space' Zuccotti.

Daniel's...

2011-09-11T20:32:00-04:00

I stuck to master plan

The architect Daniel Libeskind reflects on his Op-Ed from June 23, 2005, about his embattled master plan for rebuilding ground zero.

He kind of alludes most important design decisions for the outcome was his. From the ashes of 9/11 rises Daniel Libeskind... What do you think?

Ground zero master planner, Daniel Libeskind, praises 9/11 memorial, calls it a 'visceral encounter with this piece of New York'

2011-08-15T14:40:00-04:00

My idea in the master plan was that this was a place of the spirit. This is where people perished. It was not a piece of real estate any longer. You could not put a building there.

Previously on Archinect: Water On at WTC Memorial & On the 9/11 memorial and its disappointments.

Water On at WTC Memorial

2011-08-11T21:00:38-04:00

at its heart, the memorial has come through at least somewhat intact. And at ground zero, that is saying quite a bit. - Christopher Hawthorne

If anything can be said from a single image above, the upcoming memorial will be highly emotional, meaningful, well visited and worth the wait.