'Ground Zero' mosque: 4 things it resembles

Superman's fortress? A Jewish citadel? A beehive? Critics search for visual analogies to describe the first architectural renderings of the Park 51 Islamic center

"Glistening honeycomb" or Superman's "crystalline headquarters"?
(Image credit: SOMA Architects)

The developers of the Park 51 Islamic center have released the first architectural renderings of the proposed building whose downtown Manhattan location — two blocks from the site of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center — has triggered frenzied controversy and what some term "Islamophobia." No sooner had the mosque's designs, by Lebanon-based SOMA Architects, been unveiled than critics began looking for visual parallels. Here are four things the new building is said to resemble:

Superman's Fortress of Solitude

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