(Image Source: Dezeen)

BY IRIS ZHANG

ANCHOR ANA COMPAIN-ROMERO

You're watching multimedia global news analysis by Newsy.com.

Oops! Didn’t mean to offend. That’s the excuse a Dutch architectural firm made for its controversial design for a South Korean skyscraper. New York’s WCBS has the background.

“This is the image causing an uproar. A blueprint of two high-rises slated to go up in Seoul, South Korea that some say resemble the 9/11 attacks - New York’s Twin Towers billowing smoke and fire.”

The design has evoked strong emotions especially among 9/11 victims and families who call the design outrageous and disrespectful. 

Netherlands-based company MVRDV has posted an apology on its Facebook page.

“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 … nor did we see the resemblance during the design process.”

But according to CNN, some people aren’t buying it, saying they can sense the real intention of the company.

“-I think somebody had this in mind when they design it. I don’t think that is an accident. 

- Really?

- Do you?

- But who would do that?

- PR! They are talking about their building.”

But an architecture critic told The Washington Post, the design to resemble an explosion could be seen as having, quote, “positive architectural value.” 

“Even if the Dutch design firm, MVRDV intended a reference to 9/11, there’s no reason that reference should be read as mocking or ironic. It might easily be seen as an effort to freeze frame a traumatic event, in architectural form, and neutralize its shock and pain.”

Be it an intentional mock-up, or a modern architectural design, Fox News suggests one thing is worth noting. 

“Despite the apology, the design is moving forward. They expect the towers to be completed by 2015. Now let me add to the story. The plaza that these tower sit in were designed by the same architect that was in charge of the World Trade Center redesign. Is that the most amazing coincidence you ever heard?”