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rest of downtown. It�s pleasant enough to look at as a model as though it were a piece of sculpture, say, or an installation piece.  But the thought of this as a full scale, permanent structure is something else again.

Richard Meier & Partners Architects, Eisenman Architects, Gwathmey Siegel & Associates, Steven Holl Architects

If the Richard Meier group is ranked high in the competition for the most incompatible design, United Architects wins it hands down with a proposal that might be easily called a �nightmare in glass�.  With all the bending, turning and stacking

United Architects

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this doesn�t even work as sculpture. The idea of  daily interaction with this complex on large scale goes beyond the disturbing and into the frightening.

Rounding out the last category of �Other� is the Studio Daniel Libeskind offering, which success- fully combines one of the better monolith paradigms, as to proportion, with the surrounding horizontal space and neighborhood.  The buildings are evenly spread out with a single thin tower commanding, but not domineering, the site.  The design is other-worldly (many sharp faceted sides) and makes a statement that meets the goals set up by the LMDC without overwhelming the surrounding architecture.

Studio Daniel Libeskind

THINK�s third design, Great Hall, achieves the same sort of thing unto itself.  A couple of the best features are the single conical tower that oversees a very well thought out handling of the rest of the site. The relationship between the single tower and the lower structure is a balanced; although points come off given the scale. It is simply too huge.

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