{"id":2195,"date":"2005-06-30T15:27:52","date_gmt":"2005-06-30T22:27:52","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2005-06-30T15:27:52","modified_gmt":"2005-06-30T22:27:52","slug":"imperial-architecture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2005\/06\/30\/imperial-architecture\/","title":{"rendered":"Imperial Architecture"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The awareness of empire turns up everywhere these days. Nicolai Ouroussoff on the predictably yclept <a href=http:\/\/www.iht.com\/bin\/print_ipub.php?file=\/articles\/2005\/06\/29\/news\/critic.php>Freedom Tower<\/a>:<\/p>\n<ul>The darkness at ground zero just got a little darker. If there is anyone still clinging to the expectation that the Freedom Tower will become a monument of the highest American ideals, the current design should finally shake them out of that delusion. &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, the tower is too loaded with meaning to dismiss. For better or worse, it will be seen by the world as a chilling expression of how the United States is reshaping its identity in a post-Sept. 11 context. <\/p>\n<p>The most radical design change is the creation of the base, which will house the building&#8217;s lobby and mechanical systems. Designed to withstand a major bomb blast, the base will be virtually windowless. In an effort to animate its exterior facades, the architects have said they intend to decorate them in a grid of shimmering metal panels. A few narrow slots will be cut into the concrete to allow slivers of natural light into the lobby. &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>What the tower evokes, by comparison, are ancient obelisks, blown up to a preposterous scale and clad in heavy sheaths of reinforced glass &#8211; an ideal symbol for an empire enthralled with its own power, and unaware that it is fading.<\/ul>\n<p>Unsurprisingly, <i>Reason<\/i>oid <a href=http:\/\/www.reason.com\/links\/links013003.shtml>Ronald Bailey<\/a> <a href=http:\/\/www.reason.com\/hitandrun\/2005\/06\/new_wtc_buildin.shtml#010021>loves it<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>(Via <a href=http:\/\/www.theambler.com\/jun16-30_05.htm#freedomtower>Kevin Michael Grace<\/a>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The awareness of empire turns up everywhere these days. Nicolai Ouroussoff on the predictably yclept Freedom Tower: The darkness at ground zero just got a little darker. If there is anyone still clinging to the expectation that the Freedom Tower will become a monument of the highest American ideals, the current design should finally shake [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[676],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-2195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-antiwar-movement"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2195\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2195"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}