Winning Design Unveiled for World Trade Center Memorial

By John J. Goldman

Jan. 7, 2004 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

NEW YORK — A 13-member panel announced Tuesday that the winning design for the World Trade Center memorial is “Reflecting Absence,” a pair of pools marking the footprints of the twin towers and a grove of trees intended as a symbol of rebirth.

Created by Michael Arad and Peter Walker, the memorial was selected after an eight-month competition that attracted 5,201 submissions from 63 nations.

With “its powerful yet simple articulation” of the “gaping voids left by the towers’ destruction,” said Vartan Gregorian, chairman of the panel, “the surrounding plaza’s design has evolved to include teeming groves of trees, traditional affirmations of life. The result is a memorial that expresses both the incalculable loss of life and regeneration.”

“Reflecting Absence” was considered to be the longshot among eight finalists chosen in November by the panel that included architects, artists, political appointees, an historian and a representative of the families. Up to the last moment, media attention had focused on two other entries: “Garden of Lights, which featured a public area with one light for each Sept. 11 victim, and “Passages of Light,” which had an altar for each victim.

The Lower Manhattan Development Corp., which is overseeing rebuilding the site, said the winning entry had changed significantly since becoming a finalist. Instead of a grove, for example, the original design had a barren look, with just a few trees. The revised version will be publicly unveiled next week.

The memorial will honor not only those who died at ground zero -- when the twin towers were struck by hijacked planes and collapsed -- but also those killed in the attack on the Pentagon and the passengers whose jet crashed into a Pennsylvania field. In addition, “Reflecting Absence” will pay tribute to six people who were killed in February 1993 when a rented van loaded with explosives was detonated in the trade center’s underground garage.

Some victims’ families, however, expressed displeasure Tuesday with the selection.

“My son was a firefighter, and the decision not to [single out] the rescue workers has been very painful to me and to the other families,” said Adele Welty. The winning design, Welty said, “didn’t relate to what actually happened on 9/11 in any way. It doesn’t resonate with the memory of the horrendous incident that it was supposed to commemorate.”

Bob McIlvaine, whose son, Bobby, also was killed in the trade center attack, said the design reflected too much commercialism.

“I brought my son home and I have a gravesite,” he said. “For the people who don’t have bodies, this is a burial place. It doesn’t seem like a burial place. I feel money’s talking. I am not enthusiastic.”

The memorial’s two reflecting pools will be anchored 30 feet below street level and connected by an underground passageway. There will be a small alcove where people can light candles to remember the dead. Plans call for a ribbon surrounding the pools to list the victims’ names. And the slurry wall, the last remaining piece of the trade center, will be visible.

“Reflecting Absence” will be one of two distinctive structures on the 16-acre site in lower Manhattan. The other will be a 1,776-foot skyscraper named Freedom Tower.

Arad, a native of Israel, is an architect for the New York City Housing Authority. His previous work includes two police stations.

“I hope that I will be able to honor the memory of all those who perished and create a place where we may all grieve and find meaning,” he said in a statement Tuesday.

“I very much appreciate the jury’s thoroughness and care,” added Walker, a San Francisco landscape designer whose work includes development of the site of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Australia.

“I want to thank the families. Working on this memorial will give us the chance to express the sympathy and admiration we feel for all those who suffered from the events of Sept. 11 and the 1993 bombing,” Walker said.

On Monday, the jury met for 12 hours at Gracie Mansion, the official residence of New York’s mayor, before making its decision. The meeting ended with celebratory champagne and the promise to keep the winner a secret until Tuesday’s announcement.

The selection process has not been without controversy.

Some prominent New Yorkers, including Rudolph Giuliani, who was mayor in 2001, have said that, given the magnitude of the tragedy, it was too soon to choose a memorial.

Giuliani issued a short statement after the announcement Tuesday. “I have previously expressed my concerns about the eight finalist memorial design plans,” he said. “To comment further on ‘Reflecting Absence’ before the final plan is revealed would be premature.”

After the designs were presented to the public Nov. 19, they received poor reviews in a poll sponsored by the Municipal Art Society and local media organizations. People complained it failed to show the horror of the trade center’s destruction.

Current Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said Tuesday: “The most important thing is we come up with the right memorial.... You are not going to please everybody, I’m sure.”

Gov. George Pataki, through a spokeswoman, praised the jurors “for their unparalleled dedication to this historic endeavor.”