Rebuild it, bigger (and put memorial on 200th floor, next to the anti-aircraft guns)

National Review Online ^ | Sept. 13, 2001 | Jonah Goldberg

[DoughtyOne]

First Achitectural Draft of New World Trade Center

[DoughtyOne]

[xp38]

Plenty of time to contemplate this....in the meantime I found this photo of firefighters raising the flag at the WTC site in a report on the rescue of the five firefighters today. It reminds me a bit of the famous Iwo Jima photo.

[xp38]

I don't know why it didn't post. This is the link I have for it. http://www.thestar.com/images/010912_wtcflag.jpg

[scottiewottie]

In addition to the two towers, four additional buildings around them also collapsed. With one more being watched that will have to come down. Seven buildings. Something will be rebuilt, I think that thinking big is a quite logical course. If you would like some motivation, the largest skycraper in the world today does house an Islamic Mosque.

[Mat_Helm]

Great one Dude!

[Mat_Helm]

Great one Dude!

[scottiewottie]

Nice work!

[DensaMensa]

It's the Port Authority's land,

Ah, so. Thought I saw where the current buildings were owned by a private group...

[Publius6961]

You really ought to know something about elemetary engineering and physics before declaring that just because a building collapses after an unthinkable catastrophic event it is "inherently unsafe."

Why not?

People eseentially as ignorant and clueless have been driving the engine of environmental change and despotism for decades, and few have noticed or challenged them.

Nothing is as indignant as an ignorant person on a moral crusade.
It's all about controlling others.

[Victoria Delsoul]

The enemy hates us because of our indomitable will to succeed as a people and as nation, because of our way of life and our belief in freedom and democracy.

Their goals are to humiliate us, weaken us and eventually defeat us. But we will not let them win, because we are going to eradicate them from the face of the earth. This will be the greatest deterrent against those who still want to harm us.

Life isn't easy. We face dangers every day of our lives, but we can't let those fears bring us down. We should rebuild and we should rebuild big. We built the WTC once, we can do it again, and this time put a memorial on the 200th floor, next to the anti-aircraft guns.

[MooCollins]

Sorry Vic, but were just going to disagree on this one. Highrise leasing has been a very poor investment for years and coupled with this tregedy it will become almost financially suicidal to rebuild. As well as being somewhat arrogant.

[chimera]

The Center must be rebuilt, because a renewed WTC would be a definitive statement of resurgence. And that would be the best memorial to the dead I can think of.

Interesting dichotomy of opinion on this thread. But I think you're sentiment is correct. It is not a dishonor to those who died on this land to rebuild a useful and inspiring structure on it. When faced with this kind of adversity, a new structure would symbolize defiance and courage, not humiliation and acceptance.

Would a new WTC become just another terrorist target? Probably. But, then again, there is no lack of targets in this country. Apparently further hijacking attempts were foiled yesterday. Where were they going? They have already taken out the WTC, but were still going after something. If we let our fear of attack become the driving force in our decisions are to whether or not to rebuild assets, we won't have much infrastructure left after numerous successful attacks. All the more reason to go after those responsible for these strikes and eradicate them.

If we are viewing this as a war, which many are doing, then we need to take a chapter from the wartime playbook. When you lose assets in a battle, you try as best you can to replace them. You don't throw in the towel after your opponent gives you a bloody nose. Rebuilding structures will not replace the dead and we should not forget them and their sacrifice, so some kind of memorial is appropriate. But a rebuilt and better WTC would serve both that end and inspire those left behind to endure and continue the fight.

[Iris7]

Thanks, Dick Bachert, for putting my point of view so well, and from such a structural engineering background. Thanks, Coloradan as well. I have done some calculations, although I don't work with buildings normally. Buildings so tall that they can fail catastrophically from their very tallness, that are too tall to fight fires effectively, and that can't be evacuated in a timely manner, are inherantly unsafe.