Norman Foster may lose out on yet another major project in Manhattan. The Journal writes that if News Corporation and 21st Century Fox decide to move into 2 World Trade Center, as previously reported, developer Larry Silverstein may drop Foster’s design in favor of a new one by none other than starchitect of the moment, Bjarke Ingels of BIG. — 6sqft.com
15 Comments
Please Bjarke don't ruin it!
Do something classy and cool not kid-friendly..
Sadly this seems like a marketing move not architecture... ie Google.
"not kid-friendly"
what does that mean?
Isn’t that the way it goes….your architects design needs to be changed so you switch architects….Foster could have never figured out a TV studio.
"kid friendly" = no sharp corners?
Kid friendly: The whole Lego schtick....? The whole diagrammatic gee whiz it's a pyramid gimmick approach doesn't have the same gravitas as the Seagram, or the Chrysler building... But I'm hoping to be surprised. Its an obvious demographic play...
I just wish these big clients dug a bit deeper into the profession. Seems like they read Fast Company or some garbage--should we hire FOG or BIG?Where's the SHoP, Steven Holl, Deborah Berke, or others? I just hope we don't see another anti-building "it's transparent" play or some gimmick.
He's just so darned dreamy, isn't he?
True to the architecture, he is actually shortish, chubby and odd looking in person--but he looks so dreamy in those pictures.
LP, How can you ask for classy and serious architecture in one comment and then focus on the architect's physical appearance in the next?
I happen to work at 111 Broadway, adjacent to this area. I walk through the WTC neighborhood every day. The area has become a jumble of competing towers, too close to each other. Looking up Greenwich street, the "tail" of Calatrava's dinosaur skeleton looms overhead like a hungry predator escaped from Jurassic Park. This is a case of too many star chefs stirring the same pot. Now there's talk of bringing BIG.dk in!
Think back 10 years, when Liebeskind fought David Childs over the site plan. I was on the original SOM WTC team. At that time I believed Childs' plan was the better way to go, but Liebeskind won out anyway. I'm now certain that the SOM plan was better.
The place is a mess.
Mike - I guess you do have to ask yourself if THIS is an improvement over THAT....isn't it - "Less is more"?
Everyone is smitten with Calatravas station, actually. The rest of the towers seem blandly appropriate. BIG could inject a little funky but it's all about the design. Bjarke can't rely on his good looks and charm anymore, he has to deliver. The towers seem to all use highly reflective glass that makes them seem invisible.
As for the comment about his looks, it's fair game since he markets his own personality and appearance so much. I actually think he would find the analogy amusing...,,he seems to have a sense of humor.
His work in Copenhagen is quite good. Lives up to the hype although it does feel like it is not going to be for the ages.
It is easy to understand how his populist approach is not appreciated by conservatives. Architecture that gives people a place instead of putting them in their place is not easy to get behind if the criteria is mainly about aiming for ageless ness.
I am curious if BIG can build that way without turning banal. It seems a barrier for him still. Koolhaas managed it maybe bjarke will find a way too.
No way Bjarke can replace Lord Foster. I remember that IM Pei said that Architecture has to have an element of time. Bjarke's work is exciting but it does not seem to me the timeless kind. And it would not fit the skyline of Manhattan.
Maybe the WTC buildings should have be designed as caricature's of the starchitects...like a modern day Mt. Rushmore.... seems to have turned out that way.... however I'd change the line-up.
I wish they were more diverse in form and style. Calatrava's dinosaur/insect would look better if it were one in a collection of forms and materials.
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