Sixteen Acres

"Quirky, discursive, and highly opinionated" - a frank and devastating assessment of architecture and the rebuilding at Ground Zero (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times ) Maverick architecture critic Philip Nobel takes us deep into the inner workings of Ground Zero, tracing the redevelopment of this battleground construction site from smoke-shrouded ruin to controversial master plan. Nobel gathers the huge cast of players at war with one another: real estate developers;...
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"Quirky, discursive, and highly opinionated" - a frank and devastating assessment of architecture and the rebuilding at Ground Zero (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times ) Maverick architecture critic Philip Nobel takes us deep into the inner workings of Ground Zero, tracing the redevelopment of this battleground construction site from smoke-shrouded ruin to controversial master plan. Nobel gathers the huge cast of players at war with one another: real estate developers; grieving families; ambitious politicians; and most of all the architects, in the national spotlight as never before, charged with satisfying impossible demands and reconciling a sacred zone with daily life. By turns tragic and comic, Sixteen Acres is a riveting story of high culture and low dealings, confronting the essential questions: Can buildings provide meaning? Are modern architects up to the job? What are the limits of architecture?"Estimable . . . Nobel steps in where [others] fear to tread - by making sense of the spectacle." - The New York Times Book Review "Vastly preferable . . . Nobel, in refreshing contrast [to others on the subject], regards the circus-like chain of circumstances with skeptical detachment . . . and harrowing humor." - The New York Review of Books