Reflecting Absence - The Memorial

On January 6, 2004, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) announced its selection of a design for a memorial at the World Trade Center site: “Reflecting Absence” by architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker. Intended as a solemn space where visitors can remember and honor the thousands of lives lost on September 11, 2001, and February 26, 1993, the memorial will feature three levels descending below ground and will provide access to the original foundation of the twin towers. In this and other ways, the designers set out to create a powerful experience that will remove visitors -- physically and emotionally -- from the city and everyday life. “The design strives to make visible what is absent,” Michael Arad said. “The primary responsibility we have is to those we lost that day.” At street level, visitors to the memorial will be greeted by a plaza filled with hundred of trees. The above-ground forest will stretch across one and a half acres and have at its center two large voids -- cascading pools sunken thirty feet into the footprints of the twin towers -- that will serve as open and visible reminders of the absence of those lost. Descending from the plaza level, visitors will make their way down two switchback ramps, each as long as a city block, that will take them 30 feet below ground into a central Memorial Hall. Here, the names of the victims from both terrorist attacks will be inscribed on low parapets encircling each pool, listed in random order but with indicators beside those who were rescue workers. Memorial Hall, filling the space between the reflecting pools, will offer a vast gathering place where visitors can sit and reflect and events can be held. Descending further still, to the bedrock, visitors will be able to touch the jagged steel and rough concrete of the 70-foot slurry wall that held back the Hudson River during the attacks. The box-beam columns that supported the towers also will be exposed. Here, at the bottom-most level of the site, a room will be set aside for quiet contemplation. At its center, a mausoleum, to be called Memorial Center, will house the unidentified remains of victims gathered in the aftermath of 9/11. A private room, too, will exist at bedrock level, reserved as a space for victims’ families to gather and share their memories. A visit to the memorial will conclude in the ascent back to ground level. In December 2004, the LMDC released schematic designs created by the memorial design team, which includes Arad, Walker, and their teams, as well as Max Bond, a partner at Davis Brody Bond. These schematics expand upon the early renderings unveiled when “Reflecting Absence” was first selected and will contribute to the development of working drawings, which will set precise dimensions, specify materials, and account for the engineering necessary to make two vast waterfalls function. Once the working drawings are complete, a mockup will be built and tested in Toronto.

Timeline:

April 28, 2003: After months of public hearings, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) launched an international design competition for the creation of a permanent memorial at the World Trade Center. In what would become the largest design competition in history, 5,201 participants from six continents, 63 nations, and 49 states answered the call to honor those who were killed in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and February 26, 1993.
November 19, 2003: The LMDC revealed eight finalists selected by a distinguished 13-member jury in a public presentation and exhibition at the World Financial Center Winter Garden.

January 6, 2004: The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation announced its selection of a single design for a memorial at the World Trade Center site: "Reflecting Absence" by architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker. Two large “voids” -- cascading pools sunken 30 feet into the footprints of the Twin Towers -- form the centerpiece of the design, which also incorporates extensive landscaping in the plaza surrounding the voids and calls for the creation of an underground center to house 9/11 artifacts and a cultural facility at the intersection of Fulton and Greenwich Streets. The names of those who died on 9/11 will be listed on low parapets around each pool -- in random order but with indicators beside those who were rescue workers.

December 1, 2004: A diverse group of more than 30 distinguished members was appointed to serve as the board of directors for the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation. The group, which includes corporate executives, victims' family members, civic leaders, and philanthropists, will work together to raise about $500 million for the construction of the memorial and cultural center on the site. Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton accepted invitations to serve as honorary board members.

December 16, 2004: Expanding on the conceptual renderings unveiled when “Reflecting Absence” was first selected, the LMDC released detailed schematic designs of the 9/11 memorial. The overall design calls for three levels descending below ground, offering visitors access to the original foundation of the twin towers.

January 5, 2005: The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation board convened for the first time. Beginning in spring 2005, the board will launch a fundraising initiative to raise about $500 million and will later oversee the construction and operation of the Memorial and Cultural Centers.

May 2005: A design for the World Trade Center Cultural Center, an interpretive museum that will house the International Freedom Tower and the Drawing Center as well as an information center for the WTC site as a whole, was revealed. Created by Norweigan architectural firm Snøhetta, the design calls for a horizontal building that seems to hover ethereally above the ground, providing both protection of and a gentle entryway to the memorial that will honor the lives lost on 9/11.