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SleepyHobo t1_je33miw wrote

Once again NYC architects continue to push the obsession of soulless white architecture in a city that tracks dirt and grime everywhere. Floor will be permanently stained pretty quick just like WTC path platforms.

WTC oculus is the perfect example to be honest. Has no soul. No life. No personality. It’s bland, blinding white marble flooring, white walls, white roof, and white LED lights’ all meld together. The building’s purpose is to funnel you into luxury stores to spend money and take vapid photos for social media. Public transit entrances/exits conveniently hidden away by stairs as if some physiological ploy. No green space. No lounge space. Then just outside you have the beautiful memorial. The perfect juxtaposition of good design and crappy design.

Singapore Changi airport is what NYC architects design aspirations should be aimed towards for a transportation hub.

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Maddzilla2793 t1_je3i8vz wrote

Sadly, it’s because that’s what developers will fund.

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fasda t1_je3wam5 wrote

Developers do things either because it's cheap or get them attention. Architects loving giving pats on the and awards for shot like this.

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fasda t1_je3v3kf wrote

Because architects are one of the most insular industries around. Rich people only want award winning prestigious architects because they have no taste themselves and just compete with other people from that class and architects are the ones that give each other the awards

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SoothedSnakePlant t1_je402mr wrote

You're saying this like Calatrava isn't absolutely brilliant. The dude's a terrible architect if you're on the paying end for any of his work but he is a pretty technically gifted architect and his work is undeniably unique and usually incredibly beautiful.

Not sure what axe you have to grind with architecture, but it reeks of the same attitude as "Modern art sucks" people.

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fasda t1_je40wy3 wrote

If empty white liminal spaces out of scifi are your thing then sure he's your man. But more typical real spaces are full of clutter like benches and other signs of humans actually living there.

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SoothedSnakePlant t1_je414vb wrote

Just because something is white doesn't make it liminal or barren, blank white spaces can use their shape to give them character and personality, which Calatrava undeniably does. No one ever accused his work of having undistinctive shaping.

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Vex-valkyrie t1_je49kbk wrote

Tell me you missed the point of this post without telling me lol

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UnjustDuality t1_je4i5bk wrote

The character is empty like the modern American gilded soul. You can call it good. It just reminds me of rich people constructing their own cages of luxury.

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WorthPrudent3028 t1_je52rab wrote

Aren't Calatrava buildings expensive to maintain as well?

I like the WTC station though. However, I like the original design that opened on nice days better.

The worst redesign was 1 WTC. The original accepted design looked great. The shard with garden levels at the top. What was built is one of the ugliest buildings in the skyline.

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heaton5747 t1_je47xhd wrote

Someone get this guy out of the sub for having a completely rational take

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tbutlah t1_je6765a wrote

Sounds like this will be a hot take, but I really like the Oculus.

I remember visiting the city for the second time around 2017 and not knowing the Oculus existed. I was in Brookfield Place and randomly took that long underground tunnel that leads into the Oculus. I remember being stunned, thinking that only in a city like New York could such a striking place not even be that well known.

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Ancient_Return430 t1_je3ttf1 wrote

They chose the wrong place for Oculus. They thought tourists would flood the mall because of The One, but it never happened. It is far as fuck, they wasted so much space inside, and left all the stores pretty much on the sides, but wtf? Wrong place for a mall; terrible interior design. The exterior taste is subjective. Would have been better if they did the interior better and put this mall elsewhere.

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ChipsyKingFisher t1_je4tclt wrote

The oculus is an eye. It’s in its location because every year on 9/11 from 8:46am to 10:28am, the sun moves directly over the opening where the glass is and fills the oculus with light.

It’s a beautiful building, IMO. Most people I’ve met IRL seem to think so too but Reddit loves whining about it for some reason.

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down_up__left_right t1_je55fbp wrote

The real reason for the location is the Port Authority owns the land and used post 9/11 support to build a very expensive underground mall under the guise of rebuilding a PATH station that was destroyed on 9/11.

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crek42 t1_je73uo2 wrote

Reddit whines about everything. Doubly so in this sub.

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OIlberger t1_je4zgxk wrote

> every year on 9/11 from 8:46am to 10:28am, the sun moves directly over the opening where the glass is and fills the oculus with light

IDGAF

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