Business as Usual

What is your major criticism of the project?

There’s a flaw in the underlying master plan, which is that it’s based on mainly building office space and ignores the fact that lower Manhattan has been evolving in recent years to become a different kind of neighborhood, a neighborhood really dominated increasingly by housing, cultural facilities [and] restaurants—really a mixed-use neighborhood. This is a plan to put back the office space that was destroyed on 9/11, but that in fact should not be the priority.

What about the design of the memorial itself?

Well, there’s barely a design. The original master plan has been all but forgotten, even though it’s technically still there. The design of the memorial has many good qualities but it’s also being significantly changed and altered and compromised by a whole lot of conflicts.

Are there just too many cooks in the kitchen?

That’s a big part of it.