Last week the New York Times pre-pre-reviewed the redesigned Columbus Circle located just off of one corner of Central Park. The design is of the garden variety but has this intriguing byproduct:
The new Columbus Circle gives New Yorkers the chance to understand a critical element of the future World Trade Center memorial: how the sound of water can muffle distracting urban noise.
At the trade center memorial, cascading water walls will surround each of the voids that are to mark the absence of the twin towers. The Columbus Circle fountain begins to suggest how important sound will be. “I've always tried to impress upon people that it's a sensory experience,” said the architect Michael Arad, who won the memorial design competition in 2004 with Peter Walker & Partners.