I recieved this in my weekly e-mail subscription to arch voices (I'll highlight the WTC part for those that want to jump to the reason I posted this.):

The legendary Sam ‘Sambo’ Mockbee died in late December after an acclaimed
career as an architect and educator. Well publicized as only the third
architect-recipient of the MacArthur ‘genuis grant,’ Mockbee takes with him
big plans for his $500,000 prize.

In a recent interview with Architectural Record, Mockbee was asked the
common question: “What will you do with $500,000?” His response: “You know
the profession's intern development program? It is a well-intended program,
but most interns dread it. I would like to offer architecture graduates an
opportunity to come down to the Rural Studio as intern architects, under my
stamp.”

One idea is to also ask something of the premier architects in America, the
Frank Gehrys, the I.M. Peis, the Richard Meiers, and Michael Rotondis. I'd
like to ask each to design a cottage for a family that's living down here in
a cardboard shack. I'd take their sketch and get four intern architects to
build the house. Masons Bend, Alabama, would become like Seaside, Florida,
but I'd be doing this for the poorest one percent of Americans. I'd find the
money to build these houses-we build them for $30,000-and make sure the
workmanship is up to par. That's the sort of thing I'm thinking about.”

We hope somebody keeps thinking as Mockbee surely would have. They need not
even be one of the famous architects listed above.

Mockbee never stopped thinking about others, even in his final days. The
January 21 issue of Newsweek features a colorful proposal for a World Trade
Center memorial that Mockbee allegedly penned from his hospital bed in
December. He proposed two towers--even taller than the originals--and a
vast pit dug into the earth between them, 911 feet deep, accessed by a
spiraling ramp. At the bottom would be a reflecting pool, a memorial, and a
cultural center.


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Some of you may not know who the legendary Sambo is, so I offer this website:

http://www.arch.auburn.edu/ruralstudio/

I think he had a pretty good idea for a new WTC and a memorial. No reason why we couldn't do both.

-Steve G.