Rebuild the Things
BERNIE GOETZ is putting on his socks when I arrive at his Union Square office. He's hunched over, focused on the task, even though he has guests. But immediately as I enter he rises, all manic energy, and begins pacing around the room while launching into a stuttered introduction of Ken Gardner, a tall, black architect with a serene expression who wants to rebuild the Twin Towers.
On a table in the center of the room is a four-foot scale model of Gardner's project, with two silver acrylic towers rising like fingers from the concrete palm of Ground Zero. At first glance, it looks like a reproduction of the pre-9/11 WTC, a larger version of the tchotchkes now sold in city tourist marts. Gardner soon points out the invisible, but significant, differences.
"The way I see it, this whole project transcends architecture," says Gardner, as I inspect the project from all angles, colliding several times with Goetz, also in orbit. "It's not only about economy, construction, technology or pedestrian and traffic concerns. This site can't forever be an urban cemetery. It's got to be a very positive thing. As a society, we have to make a statement that we are not afraid. This project will restore our determination to overcome anything and continue on."
Gardner's towers are more or less exact replicas of the first ones, moved east and slightly south of their original locations. In the footprints of the original towers are memorials to those who died in the attacks; Gardner envisions glass circles with beams of light coming out of them, not unlike those used to commemorate the towers on the anniversary of the attacks.
Bernie Goetz, the famed 80s subway gunslinger who ran a failed campaign for mayor three years ago, has chosen the Twin Towers as his latest cause celebre. He is planning to run for mayor again next year and plans to champion the rebuilding of the towers during his campaign. His platform also includes vegetarian options in school lunches and taking better care of the city's squirrel population.
"[This project] will be like the Vietnam memorial," says Goetz, "with the same kind of power." He envisions the names of those killed etched into a gate structure reminiscent of the steel shell that remained when the buildings came down. He wants some of the remains of the original towers brought back from New Jersey and interred in the concrete base of the memorial.
As Gardner explains his plans and guides me through the model, Goetz interrupts and editorializes, going off on tangents with arms flailing. Even as Gardner says in a low voice that the plan is only in its early stages, Goetz asserts that entire parts of it will probably be changed when the plan goes to committee. He barely lets Gardner speak about certain aspects of the project without butting in to say that he thinks it should be done differently.
"The Freedom Tower is impractical and mediocre," says Gardner, explaining how he came to design the buildings. "It's not powerful. It represents fear. The psychic power of two 112-story buildings can't be replaced with a single tower."
The structural design for the buildings is much the same as that of the original towers, with the load carried by heavy steel exterior walls. It differs from the original design in that a double-lattice of steel supports makes them many times stronger than the original towers. Gardner says that with his design, the new buildings could be hit with commercial aircraft as they were on 9/11 and remain more or less intact. The new buildings will sway less than the original ones did because the steel structure will be more rigid. The windows of the buildings are about twice as wide as those in the original, with a double layer of glass providing more reflected light into the building.
"I did all this in a very businesslike way," says Gardner, who envisions the new buildings combining office space, memorial museums and condominiums. "I didn't want it to be a kind of pie-in-the-sky thing that people could easily dismiss."
Gardner says he was inspired to design the project as a result of several personal tragedies in his life. While he didn't lose anyone in the WTC disaster, he says that the dissatisfaction felt by most New Yorkers inspired him to dedicate most of his savings to creating a model for Team Twin Towers, Inc. ^^^
"I'm going broke on this," he says, seemingly without regret. "I'm making a comeback from an illness, and I'm just doing this because I think it's the right thing to do."
At 112 stories, the new buildings would be slightly taller than the originals. (Goetz notes this with a certain satisfaction, as though the extra stories themselves are symbolic.) Both men believe the towers will quickly become one of the city's biggest tourist attractions. At a projected $15 billion, Gardner's plan is quite a bit more costly than the Freedom Tower that was approved, owing to the extra cost of materials and labor.
Of course, the biggest obstacle to their plan is a psychological one. Having watched the Twin Towers fall a million times in television replays, one wonders whether people really want to see them rise again. Whether businesses would once again inhabit the higher floors, and whether people would pay lots of money for condominiums in what would immediately become an attractive terrorist target.
Gardner thinks Congress should pass a law requiring any national landmark destroyed by terrorism to be rebuilt.
"We need to send a message [to the terrorists] that we will not be changed," he says. "With our military, we are now much less vulnerable to attack than we were before 9/11, and I think rebuilding the towers would give such a life to the city and to the country, and really, to the world. The way I see it, as these towers go up, back into the skyline, it will be like a continuous pep rally for humanity."
While peeling an orange, Goetz asserts his confidence that the majority of 9/11 families will be in favor of the project. "It's lunchtime," he says, offering slices to Gardner and me. Gazing at the model with his neck bent and sucking on a piece of fruit, Bernie Goetz seems almost calm.