Architects, frustrated with the rebuilding in Lower Manhattan after 9/11 take things into their own hands.
Great article in the NYT Sunday magazine describes:
The pattern, a privatized version of city planning, routinely excludes architecture from the formative stages. Planners chop up the development sites into parcels, develop guidelines for each one and then hand them over to developers, who subdivide the building project among an assortment of specialists, including lawyers, interior-space planners, retail consultants, construction companies, architects and construction managers. In this way, large building projects of potentially major civic importance are delivered into the hands of competent but unimaginative firms. The assumption is: Anyone can do it. Just follow the guidelines.
Interactive Flash Piece
Detailed models and sketches
Article Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/08/magazine/08REBUILD.html
Interactive Flash:
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/magazine/20020908_911_PLAN/index.html