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Posted on 09/14/2005 4:54:48 PM PDT by jimbo123
The architect of the memorial to a plane downed in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001, said Wednesday he would work to satisfy critics who complained that it honors terrorists with its crescent-shaped design.
Designer Paul Murdoch said he is "somewhat optimistic" that the spirit of the design could be maintained.
"It's a disappointment there is a misinterpretation and a simplistic distortion of this, but if that is a public concern, than that is something we will look to resolve in a way that keeps the essential qualities," Murdoch, 48, of Los Angeles, said in a telephone interview.
Murdoch's design, "Crescent of Embrace," was selected last week during a meeting of the Flight 93 Advisory Commission from five narrowed down from 1,011.
The recommendation of the 15-member jury consisting of design professionals and family and community members still needs to be approved by the Interior Department.
Its shape is a circle broken by the flight pattern of the plane, which supporters have said follows the topography of the crash site.
Chris Martin, spokesman for Flight 93 National Memorial, said Wednesday family members and federal advisory commission members turned to Murdoch for assistance.
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., sent a letter Tuesday to National Park Service Director Fran Mainella saying many have questioned the shape "because of the crescent's prominent use as a symbol in Islam — and the fact that the hijackers were radical Islamists."
Will Adams, spokesman for Tancredo, said Wednesday Tancredo would be happy with the changes only if the crescent shape is removed.
Murdoch said he's not sure exactly what changes he would make.
The memorial also consists of a chapel with 40 metallic wind chimes — one for each victim. It would include pedestrian trails and a roadway to a visitor center and the actual crash site. At the site would be a crescent-shaped cluster of maple trees and a white marble wall inscribed with the victims' names.
"We called it a crescent because it was a curving land form. We called it 'Crescent of Embrace' because of the symbolic gesturing of embracing this place," Murdoch said. "There's no desire to make this a divisive memorial."
Gordon Felt, of Remsen, N.Y., whose brother Edward Felt was killed on Flight 93, said he called Tancredo's office and said Tancredo should have held off on his criticism.
"I wish he would come out to Somerset and see topography of the land," Felt said.
Felt said it is natural for the design to evolve.
"I think the topography of the land would really dictate there would be some kind of arc," Felt said.
Flight 93 was flying to San Francisco from Newark, N.J., when it was hijacked and crashed 65 miles outside Pittsburgh. The official 9/11 Commission report said the hijackers crashed it as passengers tried to take control of the cockpit.
I'd be okay with leaving the crescent... if the design change involves putting a large red circle all the way around it and a red slash down the middle from the upper left to the lower right.
Have you always been this naive.. or did you have to take lessons?
Caller to my local talk radio here in Memphis said the artist was hired by the Heinz foundation to do this memorial...Terazor's liberal hand at work.
Have you always been this naive.. or did you have to take lessons?
Then why didn't he call it "Broken Circle"?
LOL, no it won't actually be stepped liked terraced fields, that is just a computer animation using contour lines to mimic the old foam models that were used before computers. Architects would use knives to cut strips off of foam sheets and build up a slope for a 3-dimensional model, but it was supposed to represent a smooth slope. When built it will actually be rolling and smooth, not stair-stepped, he's just being cutesy in his graphics. They get off on stuff like that, lest anyone think that their creativity is anywhere close to that of the average person (sniff.)
Well, isn't that cute? Anybody have any more information on this? That would certainly explain a lot of things. (Aside from the fact that the guy - see picture above - looks like an arrogant liberal architect who really thinks he knows better than the great unwashed...)
The present design is that, I've read.
Plenty of similar design solutions - elliptical instead of circular, less "wrap" around the closed figure (it's not a crescent if it is only 90 degrees of a circle)
The crescent of embrace is an in-your-face slam.
Interestingly enough, Todd Beamer said, "Thank you Jesus, let's roll." This was apparently something that he always said at home, sort of a family phrase, and it was heard and recorded by the operator. However, the "Thank you Jesus" part dropped out of the official account almost immediately.
You've got it completely backwords. Artists and architects spend/waste 90% of their time considering symbolism, often trying to force infuse it where it never belonged. The most famous are often infatuated with it, because that's how you differentiate yourself and sell the gullible on your 'genius'.
Ping.
They should get that California feel good architect out of this project. 100% of Freepers could have come up with a better design.
Bring on the new design. I want to see it up close. Bet ya I find something pointing in the direction of Mecca.
personally, i thought a cross to represent the plane with their names where they were seated on the plane would be nice.
Heck, go on and protest! It'll loosen you up for next weekend! :-)
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I wonder how they got the land to build this monument?
Amen. My thoughts exactly.
According to the film the other night they used seat belt buckles, boiling hot water and the food cart to overtake the main guard. Now there is a theme.
ah, yes. I wondered where the buildings were in the model. anyway, I see the hype about the supposed crescent. makes one wonder. why not something that symbolically memorializes those on board... or the US... yeah, that's a provocative design... I was in the landscape design biz for a long time, you can pretty much make whatever you want and things rarely show up by accident.
I recall a landscape designer took a landfill in Florida (on the keys I think) and made an enormous flag out of it, ala Cristo. Again, not at all by accident (googled for the picture and couldn't find it..it's probably on FR here somewhere).
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