I’d been to Ground Zero when the new World Trade Center was being built and I wanted to see how it had ended up. I’m not sure what the general thinking was here but plunked in the middle of everything is a GIANT Calatrava structure that is a shopping mall, fer chrissake.
Maybe because I live in Milwaukee and see a Calatrava all the time, I was underwhelmed. Sure there is some loveliness there I suppose. But a shopping center in the midst of a memorial to one of the most terrible things to ever occur on American soil?
It was at once an awe-inspiring and cathedral-like, and at the same time a paean to the worst of America—Shopping. I’m surprised Calatrava agreed to do it—in the middle of some serious business.
From the outside it has a very definite legs-in-stirrups-pelvic-exam vibes. I mean, you can’t not see this.
The memorial itself is very moving. If overshadowed by the OB-GYN monster in the background. The new World Trade Center is impressive too, but maybe less moving.
Thanks for the tour. Enlightening! I had no idea….
I hope to see it some day.
It’s worth the trip!