He taught readers that they deserve beauty and meaning and must demand it in their cities. He taught me, and many architects, that we must answer this demand and never stop challenging ourselves. |
I am very happy that people have understood our desire to develop this design beyond the ideas we first presented. Now we have taken everything a step further, in order to connect this building to the city around it. |
I wanted to do a very slender building, and a very transparent one. |
It's very atmospheric. It's not a building that is a severe statement in the skyline. We need the height; otherwise, the building almost disappears because it is so slender. |
On a practical level, the design creates a new direct link to Governors Island for both tourists and Island workers from both Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. The system is very light, using only three supports, none of which stands in the water, so the shipping channels are left completely open. |
There was a wish to get something exceptional, ... I also wanted to deliver something technically unique. |
There was a wish to get something exceptional. I also wanted to deliver something technically unique. |
This is an opportunity to make something extremely practical and logical, which at the same time tries to inspire the imagination in a way that can happen only here, in New York Harbor. |