Dutch architect firm MVRDV has been criticised for designing a new building that resembles the burning Twin Towers.
The project, which is set to be completed in Seoul, South Korea, in 2015, comprises two towers of luxury apartment blocks with a 'pixelated cloud' in the middle to house shops, a swimming pool, fitness centre, cafes and a conference hall.
The firm has denied they had seen any similarities between the two buildings but has made an apology on their Facebook page (below):
"A real media storm has started and we receive threatening emails and calls of angry people calling us Al Qaeda lovers or worse.
"MVRDV regrets deeply any connotations The Cloud projects evokes regarding 9/11, it was not our intention.
"The Cloud was designed based on parameters such as sunlight, outside spaces, living quality for inhabitants and the city. It is one of many projects in which MVRDV experiments with a raised city level to reinvent the often solitary typology of the skyscraper. It was not our intention to create an image resembling the attacks nor did we see the resemblance during the design process. We sincerely apologize to anyone whose feelings we have hurt, the design was not meant to provoke this."
