The Freedom Tower

It was one of those quiet, closed door things. Last summer there was a dispute between two Yale School of Architecture alumni over the Freedom Tower design. Thomas Shine, a 2000 graduate of the school took on 1963 grad David Childs, claiming that Childs copied portions of Shine’s design that wound up being part of the design for the Tower awarded to the firm where Childs works. Shine filed suit in 2004 and last summer a judge said his lawsuit could go forward.
Without any comment last summer, the two parties reached a settlement. Shine withdrew his charge and Childs’ firm withdrew a claim for legal fees. This is one of those sticky wickets, these kind of folks talk about with nods and head shakes while the rest of us are left to wonder how the world goes round. The two Yales not only wound up in Elm City as Yalies, they both had Yale architecture professor Alex Garvin, a 1962 grad himself who also met Childs as an undergraduate and was his classmate. Garvin also taught Shine and served as vice president of the infamous Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the folks who mustered the forced that are now building the Freedom Tower. Small world some of us live in, isn’t it.