Memorial to 9/11 Victims Is Selected

Associated Press ^ | January 06, 2004 | Amy Westfeldt

[AntiGuv]

NEW YORK - Two pools of water with pine trees and a paved stone field has been chosen as the design for the World Trade Center memorial, capping an eight-month international contest that drew more than 5,000 submissions, The Associated Press has learned.

"Reflecting Absence" created by city designer Michael Arad, was chosen by a 13-member jury of artists, architects, civic and cultural leaders after months of intense deliberation that culminated in a marathon 12-hour-long meeting this week.

The decision was to be announced publicly later Tuesday.

[stlnative]

Water as the cradle of life.

Water refreshes and renews: a pool revives and restores limbs that are tired and weary; a fountain cools and soothes a spirit that is burdened and troubled; a bath cleans and purifies a body that is dirty and contaminated.

[finnman69]

Actually a friend of mine from NYC went to high school with this designer. I believe he is the son of an Israeli/US diplomat but I will confirm.

Young guy, 34 tops.

[AntiGuv]

We've already discussed my thoughts on the matter, so you know I'm perfectly content with this selection. I just wanted to reiterate that I'm also supremely pleased that the selection committee has jettisoned Libeskind's open pit in favor of a street level design. I only hope that they landscape the grounds as a less sterile and more inviting milieau than in these black&white conceptual images suggest - but I'm also fairly confident that they'll do so.

BTW, I think they should move that spherical sculpture from Battery Park back onto the WTC 9/11 memorial.

[dandelion]

Yeah, at the hands of a former IDF soldier. I like it.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Here were the other 2 final design choices(after eliminating 3 of the original 6 finalists):

PASSAGES OF LIGHT: THEM MEMORIAL CLOUD (aka The Big Mattress)

GARDEN OF LIGHTS

And it could have been worse, some wanted this ridiculous disqualified design:

[finnman69]

I agree that the elimination of the open pit was the best move. The whole bathtup wall thing was stupid. The triumph of the WTC was never the bathtub walls but the massive presence of the towers themselves. Libeskind never understood this. When you stand at these water filled voids and see the sky reflected in the water while simultaneously seeing the shape of the missing towers defined, it will be very powerful and moving. A fitting tribute. I think the side funny looking building will be eliminated. The reason he made one in the first place is he hated Libeskinds building hovering like a bridge over the site. I hope the memorial wins out. There should beplenty of space below in the bathtub footprint now.

[AntiGuv]

The old World Trade Center included a sprawling plaza and one of the key rebuilding paramaters has been a restoration of all the lost commercial space. In fact, when all's said & done there will probably be more space available than before with the procurement of the condemned Deutsche Bank property.

Let the memorial be a memorial.

[eastsider]

Two years wasted on two empty holes. Brilliant!

[finnman69]

This will drive the LW kooks and the Islamists nuts.

Michael Arad

Michael Arad grew up in Israel, the United States and Mexico. He has been living in the U.S. since finishing his military service in the Israeli Defense Force in 1991. He received a BA from Dartmouth College, and a MA from Georgia Tech's College of Architecture. He moved to New York City in 1999 and worked as an architect at Kohn Pedersen Fox for three years. He recently joined the Design Department of the New York City Housing Authority and has been working on the design development of two police stations for the New York City Police Department. He lives in the East Village in New York City with his wife, Melanie Arad Fitzpatrick, and his newborn son, Nathaniel.

[luvbach1]

I don't get it. Doesn't seem to be much to it. And the symbolism escapes me. But don't forget they said the same thing about the Viet Nam War memorial, and now...

[finnman69]

Im not so sure the Deutsche Bank building will be condemned. It looks like they have repaired a lot of the major structural damage. I bet the insurance company wins the lawsuit that the building is salvagable. IMO It would be stupid to rip down a salvagable building. better to renovate it, new skin, add more floors, etc.

[Diddle E. Squat]

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/4989.htm

Rumor yesterday was the big mattress, er, cloud was the favorite, with the winner a distant third:

WTC TRIBUTE COULD GET NOD TODAY

By WILLIAM NEUMAN

January 5, 2004 -- The Ground Zero memorial jury will meet today and may pick a winning design, sources familiar with the competition said.
The 13-member jury has narrowed its choices down to three designs and will focus on them in their discussions today.

Most jury members are said to favor the designs known as Passages of Light: Memorial Cloud or Garden of Light.

Maya Lin, who created the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, has pushed for a third scheme, Reflecting Absence, but sources said there is little other support on the jury for that design.

Jury deliberations could continue tomorrow if the panel cannot come to an agreement on a winner, said a source.

Passages of Light calls for a light-conducting pavilion of glassy tubes over part of the memorial pit.

Garden of Light includes a large apple orchard, and Reflecting Absence would convert the Twin Towers footprints into cascading pools of water.

In the weeks since the finalists were first made public in November, they have been working to refine their designs, so the winner could look different from the schemes the public has seen.

Some designers have also added extra team members to give them expertise in key areas. Sources said the Passages of Light team recruited engineers to prove their innovative design could be built.

In other changes, the Garden of Light designers have agreed to drop a proposed restriction that would keep visitors from entering the orchard space except for a short period each morning.

The jury includes architects, scholars and civic leaders.

[finnman69]

FYI all

Michael Arad went to Ramaz in NYC.

[luvbach1]

Leaving the WTC site empty would have resonated with loss and absence more than this.

[LanaTurnerOverdrive]

Excellent post, #8....thanks.

This design was my favorite as well.

[HighWheeler]

That design is not stupid enough. Just make the two pool holes 110 stories deep. The USA is becoming a group of fatgutted useless, wussified, pansy-assed, rubberspined scaredy-cat, chicken-$h1+ weasels. We are letting the fewest of whack jobs drive the show.

[finnman69]

Maya Lin did some major arguing for the winner I bet. libeskind must be pissed. This is a big FU to his masterplan.

[Flux Capacitor]

----Just as Mohammed Atta evisioned it ...----

Yes.... you see the problem.

-Dan

[luvbach1]

I agree. It's entirely acceptable and with attendence will undoubtedly gain in appreciation and understanding as did the Viet Nam Veterans' memorial.