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911 MEMORIAL DESIGN


 

The New York Arts Magazine

put out a call for submissions re: designs for a 911 Memorial

and published the responses.

I am proud to say that my submission was the only one to receive

a full page spread in the NYArts Magazine October, 2002 issue.
 
 

September 11, 2001 Memorial & Park

My concept for a memorial to the fallen and to the heroes of September 11th, 2001; be they of New York, Washington or Pennsylvania, suggests that a physical space must welcome not only the anger but also the sadness of visitors. It must be about Remembrance. A memorial must allow those who visit its confines to sense both the horror of those events and the hope which stems from the belief that such a tragedy must neither be repeated nor taint our fundamental faith in the righteousness of a true democracy. A memorial must state emphatically that it is unforgivable to forget events such as occurred on September 11th, 2001.

Design Concept

As New York was the arena of the most intense strike, it is inevitable that the people who died there will be the most easily mourned and remembered. The Pentagon’s losses, though, must not be forgotten. Neither should those in of Shanksville, Pennsylvania. This proposal for a National Memorial, therefore, incorporates elements from all three tragic events: the disintegrated structure of the twin towers in New York, the breached Pentagon in Washington and The field of Shanksville.

Cenotaph

As visitors exit the Memorial they face a Cenotaph who’s inscription is:

“Remembering and grieving

are the pains of yesterday faced today,

in order that tomorrow

brings hope and peace to the world.”

 

    

Memorial Park

The proposed parkland symbolizes the ongoing healing process which time and growth allow us all.At the center of the landscaped areas, a fountain of Hope and Peace displays a tall, straight Norfolk Pine growing towards the heavens. This Tree of Life is surrounded by a fountain eternally fed from the hands of a child, (bronze), who represents our future and that of our children.

With the passing of time, the Memorial Park’s trees and gardens will emphasize less the pain and more the remembrance and faith which harmonize and guide our souls into a future of hope. Vines at the base of the World Trade Center will eventually overtake and soften the strains of the looming shell of the World Trade Center and render it possible for all of us to look up to the Flag in appreciation and less at the scars of September 11th, 2001.

 

Structural Design

The overall dimensions of a National Memorial should be defined as monumental.

  • The multi-storey Memorial shell would be dominated by an large American Flag of Victory.

  • The approximately five acre World Trade Center site would contain not only the physical structure of the memorial but also a park setting dedicated to meditation and calm reflection either after exiting or before entering the Memorial’s walk-thru.

Exterior/interior Concept

A memorial should not only have an “exterior”, “viewed from afar component”. It should incorporate an interior into which visitors join in communion with the fallen and with the acknowledged heroes of September 11th. Visitors must have the opportunity to sense both the horror of the tragedy as well as the hope for a future devoid of such traumatic events.

Walk-thru Concept

The proposed site incorporates a single wide “walk-thru” where visitors, singly and collectively, experience the “physical” manifestations of all three sites. The design is such that all who walk through the Memorial feel, empathize, with those whose last breaths were crushed by this man-made devastation. The path first takes visitors to and into the New York monument. As they enter more deeply into the site, the sun emphasizes less the fallen walls of the twin towers of the World Trade Center and more the heart of the Memorial. The use of the fallen grandeur of the World Trade Center gives a cathedral height to the whole interior - both to characterize the immensity of the fallen structure as well as to symbolize the reverence we hold for life.

The entry walkway angles down into the earth to the core of the Memorial Gallery where an exhibit of over life-sized photos speak of the events of September eleventh.
     

     

The concept is designed in such a way that though visitors may enter in groups, they will also find an atmosphere conducive to personal prayer or meditation. Following this experience, visitors enter the pentagonal Hall of Remembrance via a winding ramp and a scarred breach.

The Hall of Remembrance will bear the engraved names of all those involved in the tragedies on its five outer walls. Lastly, visitors exit through the inner walls of the Pentagon onto a balcony overlooking the sacred ground of the Shanksville field.

From this vantage point, visitors encounter the main focus of the Memorial. From the balcony. They experience the symbols of all three devastated areas of September 11th. But at the heart of it all, as eyes are raised from the field, to the balcony to the overpowering presence of the World Trade Center ruins, the American Flag flies proudly and “hopefully’ over and above the man-made destruction at its feet.