This post appeared in a previous blog and is here for posterity’s sake.

I just received this week’s eOculus for 05.02.05 published by the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). The introduction by Fredric Bell, FAIA caught my eye:

Cultural facilities are needed at the World Trade Center site to serve as living memorials, catalysts for development and as vibrant harbingers of the resurgence of Lower Manhattan. The “Towers Site Campaign to Bypass Theaters” article by Robin Pogrebin (NYT 4/9/05) states that some World Trade Center Memorial Foundation trustees are saying that “cultural organizations are secondary.”
Clearly the memorial designed by Michael Arad, AIA, Peter Walker, and Davis Brody Bond is of primary importance and the lives lost at the twin towers will be appropriately commemorated by its timely construction. The museums and performing art spaces called for in the LMDC general project plan are essential, as well, to put into perspective the reason that people congregate in cities. Cultural activities are instrumental in defining New York’s character, and must be included to ensure that the WTC reconstruction achieves its goal of generating a vibrant urban environment.
emphasis added

Besides the kerfluffle about cultural spaces at the site, I was as astounded as Greg was last month to see Davis Brody Bond included as the memorial designer. How Davis Brody Bond attached themselves like a suckerfish to a shark would be a great, alas untold, story to hear.
The backroom dealings coming out of the redesign of Ground Zero is truly, truly awe inspiring. From problems with the master plan to NYPD warning Ground Zero’s developers about security problems at the Freedom Tower, the political maneuvering is happening on whole dimensions not accessible by a few.