Winning WTC Memorial Plan Includes Landscaping

NEW YORK – A design that uses a pair of solemn, below-ground reflecting pools to mark where the Twin Towers once soared into the sky was chosen as the World Trade Center Memorial.

“Reflecting Absence” by architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker was the winner in a massive design competition that saw 5,201 submissions from around the world, officials from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. announced recently.

“In its powerful, yet simple articulation of the footprints of the Twin Towers, ‘Reflecting Absence’ has made the gaping voids left by the towers’ destruction the primary symbol of loss,” jury Chairman Vartan Gregorian said in a statement released by the LMDC. “While these voids still remain empty and inconsolable, the surrounding plaza’s design has evolved to include teeming groves of trees, traditional affirmations of life and rebirth.”

The selection of “Reflecting Absence” was reached after a marathon, 12-hour session Monday, Jan. 5, at Gracie Mansion. It was culled from eight finalists unveiled to the public in November 2003.

In its initial form, the design called for reflecting pools placed in each footprint, approximately 30 feet below ground. Victims’ names were to be engraved in a stone parapet surrounding the pools.

One change sought by the jury, it was revealed last night, was the landscaping of the entire site with trees to make it livelier. Initially, eastern white pine trees were supposed to be planted on only a portion of the site.

“We’re going to have a beautiful place to go,” said Monica Iken, the founder of the group September’s Mission, dedicated to the construction of a memorial at the site.

Iken, who lost her husband, Michael, in the attacks, said she had liked the designs and had been confident the jury would make the best selection.

Source: The Journal News