We Have a Winner

In the contest to design the memorial at the site of the World Trade Center:

NEW YORK (AP) -- A design consisting of two reflecting pools and a large grove of trees was chosen for the World Trade Center memorial after an eight-month competition that drew more than 5,000 entries from around the world, officials announced.

The "Reflecting Absence" memorial, created by designers Michael Arad and Peter Walker, was chosen by a 13-member jury of artists, architects and civic and cultural leaders. The winning memorial was announced Tuesday by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the agency overseeing the rebuilding of the site.

The reflecting pools will mark the footprints of the World Trade Center towers. The development group said a revised version of the memorial will be unveiled next week, with significant changes that add trees and greenery around the footprints and expose the slurry wall, the last surviving piece of the trade center.

Apart from the panel that picked it, the design seems to have few supporters, with the AP quoting a number of relatives of victims who express disappointment. Rescue workers are also apparently mad that their dead won't be accounted for in a distinct way.

It's virtually impossible for this sort of memorial to satisfy everyone (maybe even anyone). Yet the design and the rationale for some of its elements--including "teeming groves of trees, traditional affirmations of life and rebirth," according to the jury chairman--seem truly banal and out of place in lower Manhattan.

Comments

[joe]

Wicked cool Hitchhiker's reference.

It's not the height and sense of grandeur I object to - it's the giant plazas the skyscrapers were located in (and the reflecting pools will be located in). The scale of the Twin Towers was a good thing when seen from outside the city, or looking down a street to see them in the distance, between the buildings on the block your're on. But this can be achieved just as well by a building that, on the site level, addressed people on human terms. Give me the Empire State Building - an actual city block. That makes me proud of human achievement. The twin towers and their ilk don't say, "Look at what humans did," because they're inhuman, superhuman. They say, "Pathetic humans! You're puny forms and senses are no match for me!"

[dhex]

i worked across from the towers for three years, and i think i only really recognized their scale once they were gone. the craters seemed huge. the towers were just a pain in the ass because of the wind tunnel effect. very brutal on brisk, cold days like today.

[Jack]

As some webpundit remarked, when viewed from overhead, this particular memorial design is going to look like a smiley face...

[StMack]

From Hold the Mayo:

I was reviewing the finalists for the World Trade Center Memorial recently and though I found some of then aesthetically appealing I found them all to be emotionally unsatisfactory. I guess in part that is probably because the memorial is not there for my benefit and because I don't need it. I don't need a place to remind of me what happened and what I felt on September 11. That is etched permanently into my memory.

Part of what I find lacking in the Memorial concepts stems from a deep dislike for the building plans for the new Trade Center. In the midst of the rage, anguish and confusion of 9/11 my first thought was that we should rebuild the towers exactly as they were. Time has only modified that thought slightly. Because there does need to be a memorial. If for nothing else to serve as a reminder to every ass who does nothing but criticize every step we take in defiance of terrorism. Now my thought is that we should rebuild the towers exactly where and as they stood with the addition of 11 floors to the top of each to serve as a memorial.

But I would not build a memorial only to those who died on that day. I would build not only a memorial to the lost but a tribute to the living. A tribute to those who fought death on that day. A tribute to those who toiled endlessly, digging with their hands and passing debris in bucket brigades in the hope that they might pull one survivor from the wreckage. I would build not only a memorial to the lost but a tribute to the spirit of a wounded nation that gathered itself and declared This Will Not Go Unanswered.

[Warren]

I have not seen the disigns - I will flip over and look at them in a minute. However, I will observe that the observations about victems families, etc hating it are almost word for word duplicates of the initial responses of Vietnam vets and families when that memorial was unveiled. At the time, war memorials were supposed to be winged horses and valkyries with swords and shields or whatever (in fact, I think the second place design looked just like that) and it took a while for people to come around to a different kind of design. Now, I think most (incuding myself) find the Vietnam memorial pretty powerful.

That said, I still wish they had just rebuilt the towers. Nothing would have said "we won't let terrorists change us" more than that.

[Jean Bart]

Battery park has trees in it. *duh*

[Native NYer]

NY has plenty of trees, it's the heart of Brooklyn that needs some greenery.

I think a democratic, tolerant, and secularly-ruled middle east will be the best memorial to the folks killed in the twin towers.

[Douglas Fletcher]

Put it in Mecca.

[Jon H]

Grass and trees are essential, or else nobody will want to spend any time at that stark, sterile expanse, except for tourists.

If they have grass, trees, benches, and WiFi, they'd have lots of visitors. Kinda like Bryant Park, just a few blocks from the hustle and bustle of Times Squre, in a region which is surely no more naturally hospitable to greenery than lower Manhattan.

Personally, I think a pleasant, usable space would be better than a mausoleum that everyone avoids, with little whirlwinds of dirt and litter blowing around thanks to the unimpeded air currents.

Trees and grass might also make the area a little quieter than if it were all acoustically reflective stone, which might be a better environment for people visiting to mourn.

Only downside is the need to keep it from turning into a campground for the homeless.

[Russ]

Personally, I couldn't care what goes up there and my opinion is more or less irrelevant.

First of all, I have no beneficial interest in the site or it's vicinity, financial or otherwise.

Secondly, I don't live in New York, so I can't even claim that my tax dollars paid for the original buildings.

Finally, I don't need to be reminded that some people are so ass-headed that they feel justified that they're doing divine work when killing innocents... I see examples of it every day.

I just hope that whoever owns the site and is paying for the construction is happy with whatever he, she or they end up buying.

[dhex]

prospect park is pretty large, and has all those nifty revolutionary war pillars and shit.

queens could use some help. 90% of forest park is cemetary!

[Warren]

The most expensive real-estate in the country and were going to put in two mammoth wishing wells... uhhh yeah.

Whatever they do, it will be just like the twin towers themselves (or the Eiffel tower for that matter) there will be lots of griping to begin with, and five years later it will be an indispensable icon of the city.

"It just told me what I knew all the time. I'm a really terrific and great guy. Didn't I tell you, baby, I'm Zaphod Beeblebrox!"

[joe]

Egoist architects + Politicians who like simple, ucomplicated plans = Yet another oversized, windy plaza.

[Sir Real]

What exactly is Nick expecting that wouldn't be "banal", or more in keeping with Manhattan? A glittery 1776m tall tower? Each victims name written on a hundred dollar bill and shellacked to the plaza?

As for out of place, does that mean Central Park is out of place too?

Will that said, they should have memorialized every victim in a distinct fashion- plaque, wall, etc...

As for the plaza being windy, it would seem the trees should stop some of that. At the very least, it will be less windy than the original towers.

[Jay Allen]

Yeah, Goddess forbid we have any trees in lower Manhattan. I'm with Sir Real - whatss the fuss?

[josh]

Space is such a commodity in NY. By making it unuseable, it will soon be a source of resentment.

Central Park is useable. There are things to do.

I think it sounds like it could be very nice - only, for some other memorial, somewhere else.

[Jigga Wha]

Personally, I think they should've just thrown up a few more towers, called 'em "World Trade Center times two, bi-atch!" or something. I also think there *should* be some sort of memorial, though much smaller in scale. I'd just put one of them $1 WTC replica souveniers in the center of the square or something (tasteless?). I don't understand the idea of memorializing every person, though... not sure what those people wanted, really.

Not adding anything, just like to see my ideas on the web!

[junyo]

Personally, I think they should've just thrown up a few more towers, called 'em "World Trade Center times two, bi-atch!" or something.

Exactly. I don't know why the families insist that nothing be built on the spot. I'd think that the most fitting memorial to their loved ones would be building a bigger pair of towers, capturing Osama, and tossing him off the roof as part of the oening ceremony.

[junyo]

Um, "...opening ceremony."

[Gordon Shumway]

They should design it like the memorial for the guy who died of a heart attack during the first WTC bombing.

[joe]

Sir Real, the desire to preserve something of the original layout is at the heart of the problem. Because the original layout was gawdawful.

Speer-esque brutalism, designed to make you feel puny and insignificant unless you're part of a huge crowd.

[rst]

designed to make you feel puny and insignificant

What's wrong with that? Compared to a skyscraper, you are puny and insignificant. Why even bother with a memorial? As if we'd ever forget? Just put up massive office space, make it the tallest building(s) in the world and let those folks get back to their jobs.

Put some lights on it in the shape of the star of David just to piss off the M.E.

[Ron Bailey]

Building big new skyscrapers on the site would certainly be right the way to go, but for political reasons that is a non-starter. I don't understand why the families of the victims of the WTO atrocity insist on open space, but given our national penchant for bathos, we can't expect our political "leaders" to oppose them.

With regard to the banality of the design--I think Nick is too harsh--the fact is that the other finalist designs were all essentially open plazas of one sort or another, and "Reflecting Absence" is the best of what is on offer in my opinion.

[Chuck]

What does New York need? It needs more trees, breezes, sunlight. It also needs a WTC memorial that is solemn and respectful, not goofy and avant-guard.

I think that this is a pretty good plan.

[Kevin Carson]

So (this being a libertarian site, and all) who's paying for this? The original WTC was a deal cooked up by David Rockefeller and the Port Authority, and made possible by the magic of eminent domain.

How about restoring the Syrian neighborhood that was there before?

I feel the same way as joe about totalitarian architecture.

[ed]

"...brutalism, designed to make you feel puny and insignificant unless you're part of a huge crowd."

Like a gothic church. Sounds about right.

[joe]

No shit, Kevin, Syrian? That's neat, but I don't think you'd get a lot of traction with the victims' families. "We're going to memorialize your loved ones by recreating an Arab neighborhood. Not in the face! Not in the face!"

ed, I've gotta disagree. Gothic churches combine vastness with intimacy. You see anything intimate in either the before or after designs?

Ron, I agree - the best of the possible options.

[Andy D.]

"...brutalism, designed to make you feel puny and insignificant unless you're part of a huge crowd."

At the risk of sounding like Zaphod Beeblebrox*, the towers didn't make me feel small at all. They made me feel big. Looking up at those vast towers made me feel good to be a human being... that people had built these massive towers is just plain impressive. Nearly stripped of affectation, they were great symbols of the virtually limitless raw potential of human creation. Really, I thought this standing at the foot of the towers, even before having read The Fountainhead.

*Zaphod was a character from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, when subjected to the "torture" of seeing the entire universe at once, which made everyone else see how tiny and insignificant they were... Zaphod was impressed with how special and cool he was.

[joe]

You want cosmic to concrete? Work in a planning office.

9AM - discuss with co-workers the legitimacy of various models of public participation

10AM - argue with Engineering Dept. about costs of installing curbing over cobblestones.

[Warren]

"capturing Osama, and tossing him off the roof as part of the opening ceremony." Wonderful! You have revived my faith in the aesthetic and moral possibilities of capital punishment. But first we should shave him (inspect his teeth like Saddam), dress him in drag, hang a pork roast around his neck, douse him in alcohol and set him on fire and then throw him off...at night, so he'll glow real pretty like. Now that would be a memorial that jihadis would understand! Very cool, junyo. (As you can see, I'm in a rather vicious mood this morning...but the throwing off the tower thing, that I'll stick with past noon today).

On a more serious note, reflecting pools in a NY winter will either be ice or have to be emptied to keep the foundation from cracking. They'll look pretty pathetic and depressing unless there's a heating system involved.

See how I can range from the cosmic to the concrete? And I haven't even finished my morning coffee yet.

[Taylor Fern]

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DATE: 05/20/2004 04:31:06
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