Critics slam proposed Seoul twin towers as mimicking explosions of planes hitting WTC on 9/11
December 12, 2011 16:03


http://www.globalpost.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/medium/twin_towers_the_cloud_12_13_11.jpg

http://inhabitat.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2011/12/The-Cloud-MVRDV-1-537x405.jpg

The design for proposed twin towers in Seoul has been slammed for mimicking the explosions caused by planes hitting New York's World Trade Center in 2001, however the project's South Korean developer says it will not alter the design.

The skyscrapers, designed by Dutch architecture firm MVRDV and "connected midway up by a cloud-shaped bridging section," will be built at the entrance to Seoul’s redeveloped Yongsan business district by 2016, according to Agence France-Presse.

MVRDV, whose website features an artist's image of the project, has described the buildings' connected midsection as a "pixelated cloud" containing public gardens, sky lounges, a swimming pool and restaurants.

The New York Daily News quoted Jim Riches, a retired FDNY deputy chief whose son was killed on 9/11, as saying that he didn’t believe the architects.

“I think it’s a total lie and they have no respect for the people who died that day,” he said. “They’re crossing a line. It looks just like the towers imploding. I think they’re trying to sensationalize it. It’s a cheap way to get publicity.”

A headline on a Gizmodo article about the towers asked, simply: “What the hell were these architects thinking?”

MVRDV, in a statement on its website, has apologized for any resemblance to the Twin Towers, saying that it did not see the similarities during their design process.

"It is one of many projects in which MVRDV experiments with a raised city level to reinvent the often solitary typology of the skyscraper," the statement read. "We sincerely apologize to anyone whose feelings we have hurt, it was not our intention."

Meanwhile, White Paik, spokesman for the Yongsan Development Corporation, reportedly said: "Allegations that it [the design] was inspired by the 9/11 attacks are groundless. There will be no revision or change in our project," he said, adding that construction would begin in January 2013 as scheduled."

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/news/regions/americas/united-states/twin-towers-911-attacks-world-trade-center-explosions-seoul-cloud

Does anyone really want to see that in their cities skyline? the appearance of a WTC implosion of smoke and debris is hard not to notice.

i think it's cool. oh well.

I wonder how many people would have thought 9/11 if they weren't told about the similarity. I wouldn't have. In fact, I would have thought it was cool too.

To repeat what I said in the WA thread:

I think the extreme overreaction to this building highlights what a big role americentrism plays in American culture. To look at this design, two towers with a lump in the middle, and immediately assume that Dutch architects and South Korean property developer have been scheming to build a replica of an decade-old American event is unbelievably self-centred.

I think architecture critic Phil Kennicott summed up the reason for this response quite well:
The controversy seems part of a larger cultural effort to make the events of September 11, 2001 somehow sacred, to use the meaning of the terrorist attack for larger, more overbearing cultural control. So now it is being deployed against contemporary architecture, not because there is anything inherently offensive in this design (which may or may not be an intentional reference to 9/11), but because the emotions generated by the attack have been co-opted by one part of the political and cultural spectrum.


I think it is a truly groundbreaking building which really challenges the vertical nature of skyscrapers in a way we've never seen before. Similarly, MVRDV are an extremely talented and well-respected firm renowned for their groundbreaking designs. They've fully explained the creative process behind the design, and apologised for any offence unintentionally caused. Despite this, the design continues to be sullied and its architects reputations continue tarnished by ignorant, egotistical conspiracy theories. Very sad to see.

sprawl, i showed the pic to my mum who immediately thought of the twin towers imploding. it was the very first hting she thought of.

i agree that americans can be prone to being oversensitive BUT i can certainly understand them believing the twin towers are being referenced here.

This can't be serious ?

They look like lego buildings.

i posted in stupid news storys yesterday.
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=746910&page=35

This building(s) is amazing. Not sure how the towers will cope being stuck together at the middle in such a way.

The WTC towers got hit at different times and fell at different times, so how can these represent the attacks?

Looks like a big H to me. At one point was there smoke halfway up the twin towers that was bridging the two? The towers aren't even twins.

I love it, beautiful.

I saw it as twins towers straight away, although i did read the headline first. Regardless of that it still would have been a slap in the face recognition of 9/11. But that is me, and I'm not sure the majority of non-american viewers would make that connection.


Regardless of whether it is intentional or not (which i dont think it is based on the concept behind the building) I still dont consider it offensive, but i didnt lose a loved one on 9/11.

I didn't think of it until someone brought it up on ssc. It looks amazing, but not hard to see the references.

Meh, typical ugly building. :ohno:

Too much concrete, too white, too ugly.

Even if the WTC wasn't attacked, it would still look similar to a building explosion.

Either way it is an interesting design, but I'm not sure how they will pull off that huge jumbled up skybridge. I really can't decide if I like it or not, it is a very controversial design but also very out there.

Though I would hate to see it built here in Australia.

Eww, they look ugly!

But I LOVE the wavy tower on the right hand side of this photo:

http://inhabitat.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2011/12/The-Cloud-MVRDV-1-537x405.jpg

Even without the critism, they look terrible, bland and boring to look at. :(

Meh, typical ugly building. :ohno:

motion "likes" this

Its really nice imagination of someone !
can it be happen as someone thinks like this !