A friend of mine recently had a tour from inside the construction facilities at the new World Trade Center. Here are some pictures she took; talk about some up-close and personal access to what is arguably the most significant construction project in the world right now. Click any photo for a larger view.

Looking out from many stories above. The photographer, of course, wears a hard hat.

Looking down into the Ground Zero pit. This used to be a huge underground mall and transportation center… it strives to be all the better, going forward.

The new WTC lobby takes shape, and size.

As time goes on, I am amazed to keep learning about the people who died on 9/11/01.  Today, Ken Levine posted his tribute to David and Lynn Angell;  David created the tv shows Wings and Frasier, and worked with Ken on Cheers.  Click here to read Ken’s note.

So many people I interacted with this week had forgotten the significance of this day.  And there was little mention of it in the national media throughout the day.  And this is healthy, as we gradually move on and desensitize ourselves from this event.  But when I do see the occasional heartfelt pause, like Ken’s, it is reassuring that there are a good number of folks out there who truly will “never forget”.

In case you missed it last year, here is my collection of compelling photos taken on that day… thousands of them, by no doubt thousands of people.  They have a time-worn look, almost, now.  But I suspect for me it will always feel very present.

You can say that again.

From Despair, Inc.

A couple years later, I would learn that Salaam Bombay is also the name of Mira Nair’s first feature film, one very much worth your time (probably my favorite of all her work, and the behind-the-scenes stories about the before and after in the lives of the filmmakers are particularly moving).  So: watch it, and listen to the commentaries to be extra impressed.

But I first encountered “Salaam Bombay” as an Indian restaurant a couple blocks from the World Trade Center.   New York has plenty of places to enjoy Indian food, but this place was unique as it served mostly vegetarian entrees on its lunch buffet, and not your “normal” staples.  I remember special items like stuffed eggplant, and other complex foods quite beyond the basic saucy stuff (which I love, anyway) in most restaurants.  And, Salaam Bombay’s food was always extra spicy, more so than the average co-worker of mine could handle.

For years, I’ve wondered what happened to this restaurant, if it was hard-hit by the 9/11 attacks, if it survived either physically (which I suspected), or did it die from no business;  after all it was located right there.

I could have looked into this a long time ago, actually.  But I did not.  I had no reason to go down there, and there are other restaurants, so I was content with the memory of the place.

This past week, I have been going through the more than 5000 9/11 photos I uploaded, and eventually came across this one, which particularly struck me:

*****

I have enhanced the World Trade Center pix collected on here recently.  I am gradually making the better of the several thousand photos stand out with a page of personal favorites.

6 years ago today, I was sitting in an apartment just across the Hudson river from New York City, thinking about what had happened 7 years ago today.

click here for the improv

Kate and I share our office at the New York Institute of Finance, 17th floor of Tower 2.

The view from the Staten Island Ferry, just outside the terminal, during 2001.

more pix

I managed to acquire a vast collection of photos, hundreds of which are breathtaking.  This series contains over 5000 pictures, and the photographers are unfortunately not credited.  I have only scratched the surface in looking at them, but I am consistently surprised by the magnitude of emotion, detail, and nuance that is captured within this library.  Extraordinary minutiae and epic grandeur are captured in frame after frame.

I will warn you that many of these are heartbreaking in the very human reactions they display.  As of yet I have found nothing gory; just potent documentation of both the impressive accomplishment of the buildings themselves, as well as the ripple effect of their destruction at all levels, from the gigantic to the subtle and otherwise overlooked.

The diversity of content, style, and function within this collection is immense.  You could spend weeks appreciating the work of its many contributors, whoever they are….

I created a simple script to allow easy navigation of this huge album.  Enjoy, and be patient with yourself.

andrew.fm/wtc

While a lot of these resemble images we’ve all seen ad nauseum, there are also some real gems in here; moving and affectionate moments that we never saw in the papers, or on television.  A lot of the pictures do offer a unique perspective of the destruction itself, but so many others expose how the event indirectly affected everyday life far away from those buildings.

(for some wtc-themed photos i’ve taken, click here)

(these are not my pictures)

It is possible that you have heard about a dramatic building project in development for years now, here in New York City, that will be called the World Trade Center. If you have not heard about this, please go up in your browser and hit the “back” button several times.

The architect behind the new WTC and most notably its Freedom Tower, Daniel Libeskind, is also, as I learned, building an impressive condo project in Singapore, advertised on billboards while I was there. It shall be completed alongside the work done in New York, and most interestingly, it rather closely resembles the style of his WTC project:

vs. the World Trade design:

From Jeana Wong, Channel NewsAsia:

SINGAPORE: Keppel Land mixes business and art for the first time as it unveils its latest Keppel Bay residential development called Reflections.

The waterfront project is designed by architect Daniel Libeskind, who counts among his works the Jewish Museum Berlin and the masterplan for the New
York World Trade Centre site.

The development, which is the largest in the west side of town, is expected to put a new face to world-class waterfront living.

Reflections features six glass towers and 11 villa apartment blocks totalling some 1100 units.

The project incorporates signatures of the famed architect, including use of materials like steel and titanium to reflect modern sensibilities, as
well as use of other motifs like splits, criss-crossing lines and curves evocative of the natural environment.

Pending favourable market conditions, Keppel Land expects to launch up to 500 units as soon as March.

The project is slated for completion by 2011.