The Oculus, Manhattan's new symbol
i24NEWS ·
The 3 Minutes POP at the foot of the Freedom Tower, which rose after more than ten years of construction on the ashes of the World Trade Center, in front of another, far more original monument: the Oculus. This "iron giant that seems to burst out of the ground like the huge claws of an extinct animal or the back of a hedgehog" ("some even say the carcass of a Pokémon") houses the PATH station, the nerve center of New York's underground transit, completely destroyed on September 11, 2001 and reopened after 15 years. For David Benaym, this building, both a memorial and a structure straight out of the imagination, symbolizes the remains of the Twin Towers. The station dates from 1909; in 2018, 113 million people are expected, who can reach upper Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn or cross the Hudson to New Jersey. Around the monumental sculpture by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, graffiti made by children adds a bit of color. Inside, luxury shops and air conditioning, but above all a photo spot that became a must for tourists in under three years, with an east-west passage across lower Manhattan to Battery Park: "the Oculus, remember its name, a new symbol of the city to visit without fail if you pass through Manhattan." David Benaym's 3 Minutes POP in Benjamin Petrover's “C'été l'info”, i24NEWS in French, July 19, 2018.