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"The Trade Center is an architectural martyr, our only skyscraper martyr, and a martyr to democracy. Penn Station was a martyr to preservation, and its loss galvanized us into realizing how critical great buildings are and led to a resolve not to let that happen again. The Trade Center was a martyr in the broadest sense to the values of our society, and also a modern symbol. Although we like to think of ourselves as technologically very advanced, our architectural symbols are things like the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol. So a modern piece of architecture symbolizing the national ideals is quite a remarkable moment. The replanning of the Trade Center connects to preservation. One of the things for which there was broad consensus after the Trade Center fell was the need to put the streets back on that 16-acre block and restore a more traditional urban framework. There again we see the value shift. Nobody would have ever wanted [the attack] to happen, but people are viewing it as an opportunity to correct some things in that area. It's being used in a positive way."
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