I’ll be perfectly honest with you. I didn’t really like the design of the new World Trade Center when it first won approval. It seemed basic. But I watched it rise, and I saw it start to shine, catching reflections of the surrounding downtown skyscrapers. I realised I’d missed something early on.
French illustrator Romain Trystram caught that missing something in his latest 1980s-inspired wallpaper. One World Trade Center, the tallest skyscraper in the United States, isn’t basic. It’s futuristic, almost like a tower from Tron. But it’s also classic, and that’s a tough balance to strike.
One World Trade Center shows off its classic charm in a few different ways. The building is wonderfully geometrical, a perfect octagon that converges into a square creating a crystalline effect. It’s classically commanding, like any New York City skyscraper should be. And, again, it’s classic in a terrifically futuristic way, a monolith that wouldn’t be out of place in ancient Egypt but exists in America as a beacon of progress. Trystram’s rendition showed me how my initial hesitations about the building’s design actually illustrate its charm. Clean lines and orderly shapes never go out of style.
Check out a high res version of Traystam’s illustration at I Like Architecture.