The Oculus

2016

Architect: Santiago Calatrava
Address: 185 Greenwich Street, Manhattan

As is typical with New Yorkers, within the first few months of the Oculus being "completed" (which, until all its underground passageways and staircases are open, I don't truly consider it to be), there were plenty of negative reviews of how it looked, how it was just a mall, how it didn't really connect anything important, etc., etc., etc. All I can say is that now, God forbid anything would ever happen to this structure--it's clear that, as usual, we've made it our own, after (also as usual) a brief rocky period when it first moved here from Valencia, Spain (that's where Calatrava is from, for those of you just looking in from the sidelines). Its immigrant status notwithstanding, The Oculus is simply a stunner from inside and out. It might be impossible to take a bad picture of this thing, and I have to say that I'm pretty happy with this shot, although I'll go back again when there is less construction detritus around it (whenever that happens to be). But for the moment, I'll take this shot, any day of the week. Enjoy.