Sustainability

World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition

See the full entry online.

excerpts from the entry text:

The hope for this memorial is that an irreversible act of division may be seen as catalyst for the creation of an authentic place for reconciliation.

Short-term memory loss of place

Memory and place are interdependent. In a landscape increasingly altered by humans, authenticity of place has become an endangered concept, and with it comes a kind of short-term memory loss of place. The alteration of the land by human hands is inevitable, and authenticity, like the soil itself, is a many-layered process.Though a return to the dense forests or the pristine wetlands of old may be impractical in twenty-first century Manhattan, a more intelligent contemporary intervention on a 4.7 acre site can surely be found than commercial lease space or a tourist attraction.

Urban Gardens

Metropolitan areas such as New York and Chicago recognized an explosion of growth and density and acted boldly to reserve urban green space such as Central Park (1857) and Grant Park (1847), respectively. The same zeal with which privileged nineteenth-century society sought parks for aesthetic and social reasons in their cities should be applied to preserving and maintaining unique balances of ecologies in our time.

The footprint of each of the World Trade Center towers constitutes nearly one acre, substantial pieces of land on which to grow food, and the remaining 2.7 acres a rare opportunity to offer a meditative space bounded by the flora of Manhattan of the sixteenth century (and quite possibly the twenty-second).

The Memorial: Regeneration and Renewal

From death comes life.

This occurs literally in nature, where decomposing matter becomes nourishment for new organisms. In the memorial, this occurs figuratively, as well as literally.

An open-air meditative space and ossuary defined by high walls provides a final resting place for the unidentified remains of the September 11 attacks. Water pours from the tops of these walls, cascades into troughs on either side, and is channeled along memorial watercourses inscribed with the names of the victims of the attacks. Terrace gardens for contemplation as well as the raising of crops are fed by the water, the overflow of which is balanced by a surrounding ecological preserve. As the gardens lie fallow in the winter months, understory plants and native grasses used historically by indigenous farmers to stabilize and enrich the soil will be planted on the terraces, giving the visual impression of a natural fabric woven on an urban scale which changes subtly over time.

The act of irrigation channeled along the names of those lost and the resulting abundance of plant life is symbolic of the authentic place for regeneration and renewal this memorial strives to become for passersby and mourners alike. It evokes the waters of absolution which flowed through the cool rooms of the Alhambra and provided sustenance for the famed gardens in the neighboring Generalife during an intense period of artistic, cultural, and social harmony.

Sensuality

Sense of place implies the use of the senses to understand and enjoy a place. The materials and textures of the memorial are employed to bring a serenity and simplicity to a site once charged with violence and confusion.

In the early morning, echoes of soft voices mix in the meditative space as water runs over cool walls. During the day, people from the neighboring community gather vegetables as families stroll paths through sun-dappled gardens. In the evening, names underlit by fiber optics waver and shimmer along stone watercourses.