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Also today: Yesterday's schools of tomorrow face the future, and Hyundai says battery plant is delayed after immigration raid.
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Before hijacked planes struck the Twin Towers in New York City 24 years ago —  in an attack whose haunting images remain seared into the memories of many of those old enough to have witnessed it — they were defining features of the city’s skyline. In their absence, the towers are remembered as symbols of America’s resilience. But it wasn’t always this way.

When the World Trade Center was completed in the 1970s, critics decried the structure for being too effeminate for what was supposed to be one of the biggest buildings in the world. They characterized the towers in sexist terms like “dainty” and “prissy,” while Minoru Yamasaki, the Japanese American architect behind the modernist design, encountered the kind of racial prejudice he’s faced throughout his career. But as contributor Alexandra Lange wrote in a 2021, the very “daintiness” of the columns and narrow windows was, in fact, the source of the towers’ structural strength. Revisit the history of the iconic towers today on CityLab: How To Remember Minoru Yamasaki’s Twin Towers

— Linda Poon

More on CityLab

Yesterday’s Schools of Tomorrow Face the Future
In the 1950s and ’60s, top architects built a trove of daring modernist schools in Columbus, Indiana. Now these midcentury icons are getting a $300 million update. 

NYC Ferry Sees Record Ridership as System Eyes New Routes
The ferry recorded over 1 million boardings, a 17% increase over the same period last year.

Hyundai Says Battery Plant Delayed After Immigration Raid
The company’s CEO said the work was being set back by several months.

What we’re reading

  • Silicon Valley enabled brutal mass detention and surveillance in China, internal documents show (Associated Press)

  • Small towns need help to address catastrophic flooding (Philadelphia Inquirer)

  • Why 15 million vacant homes won’t solve the housing crisis (Vox)

  • The future of Los Angeles is without palm trees (Domus)

  • Greyhound: geography, capitalism, and America by bus (Orion)


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