Performing Arts Latest Casuality In Ground Zero Rebuild

The once highly-touted performing arts center, part of a larger $500 million plan to rebuild at Ground Zero in NYC, has been shelved with little fanfare and no press. The center is yet another victim in the new war over how to rebuild, what to rebuild, and even if rebuilding is in the city's best interests.

"The plan, by nature and necessity, was schematic, a framework within which the objectives could be realized in a number of ways. New Yorkers are realists, and we expected a long period of adjustments and accommodations, political and otherwise, a process in which hope springs eternal and serendipity is often an ameliorating factor. As our architectural expectations plunged, they were revived again in 2003 by the Port Authority's surprising commission of Santiago Calatrava for its Transportation Hub, a stunning, spirit-lifting building that spectacularly refocused the site.

But whatever the compromises, four essential components needed to be maintained. There was the iconic image to replace the Twin Towers, achieved by a spiraling ring of skyscrapers increasing in height until they reached their tallest point in a building called the Freedom Tower, for a strong visual and emotional impact on the skyline. The importance of memory was stressed by a single powerful element that was the design's basic theme--the retention of the rough concrete slurry wall that held back the river from the Trade Center's foundations, to be preserved and exposed as a reminder of the tragic event, a symbol of destruction and salvation."

Thanks to Brenda Meyer