Posted by I can’t go to New York without visiting Ground Zero. Not in morbid fascination, but more in the form of reverent respect. This visit, something new and magical had settled to ground, white wings outspread. It’s called the Oculus, and it houses the myriad transit, shopping, and eating concourses that cross Manhattan’s World Trade Center Transportation Hub.
The astonishing building is the brainchild of Spanish-born Manhattan resident Santiago Calatrava. He approached the project with a desire to honor the commuter, the person traveling daily to work in one of the greatest cities of the world. As we all had been shell-shocked and stunned after 911, these people were hurt – were in some ways broken – and Calatrava wanted to give them something uplifting, something remarkable and filled with light and space in the way only the great architectural spaces can successfully achieve. In an interview with Architectural Digest, he describes his inspiration.
It felt like the way it feels when you stand on the balcony over Grand Central Station, hearing the soft susurration of a thousand people walking, vaulted space above you, humbled and honored to be there. Like the way an immense cathedral can bring a sense of spiritual lift with its stunning stained glass and endless ceilings. Like the quiet, elemental beauty of something built well, to last. It was glorious. Go see it. (Jen)
