WTC Architecture

First on my list of sites to visit during a long weekend in the Big Apple was the 9/11 Memorial area downtown. And in spite of gloomy, somewhat cold, weather, we were very glad to have seen these wonderful memorials (more about them next time) and the amazing architecture on display around them.

One WTC is of course the most striking of the buildings, and, unsurprisingly, I couldn't stop snapping photos of it...

It's even cool when it just shows up in reflection...

Before visiting the area, we knew about One WTC. The building that surprised us was this one...not sure how we missed hearing about it, but...WOW!

It's the Oculus, which is really just a swanky mall. But what an amazing structure! From all angles!

Here's what it looks like inside, completely (somewhat early) decked out for the holidays...

The balcony at the center of the second photo above is where we stood to take the first one. It really feels like you are inside some sort of starship or space station!

There are some neat older buildings in the area, too, providing that balancing of tradition and futurism that New York has always been famous for. Here are a couple examples of the early 20th century architectural vocabularies...

But of course everything in this area revolves around the events of 9/11/2001, and the museum commemorating the events is an impressive piece of architecture as well...(we didn't have time to tour the museum...maybe on our next visit?)

the Museum is the low angular building in the center of this photo

As we were informed by an enthusiastic security guard (more about what he told us next time), the Oculus itself was designed as part of the memorial space, to resemble a dove in flight. It does look like that, doesn't it?

And it's hard to avoid including the explicitly-memorializing elements of the space in your photos. You can see bits of the impressive fountains in the two pictures above. And then there's the "sphere," across Liberty Street. I'll tell you more about these somber, beautiful reminders of the tragedy next time. They deserve their own post, not just out of respect, but because of how visually striking and moving they are.