Two years after the terrorist attacks that changed America, New York has finalized plans for transforming the area once occupied by the Twin Towers into a memorial honoring the lives lost in the Sept. 11 attack.
Chosen by a 13-member jury, the design, entitled “Reflecting Absence,” consists of two reflecting pools where the World Trade Center towers once stood.
According to wtcsitememorial.org, Architects Michael Arad and Peter Walker designed the memorial, which features the two pools surrounded by a park, an underground museum and a piece of the original World Trade Center wall that is still standing.
The underground museum will house relics from the terrorist attacks, including a crushed fire truck and twisted steel beams from the two towers.
Etched around each pool will be the names of those men and women who lost their lives on Sept. 11 and the names of the people who died during the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
The reflecting pools, park and museum will occupy 4.7 acres of the 16 acres left vacant after the attacks. Skyscrapers, office buildings and gift stores will occupy the remaining area. Designs for those buildings were chosen early last year.
“Reflecting Absence” was one of over 5,000 ideas submitted in an international competition. Other submissions included the creation of the world’s tallest tower and a display of images of the victims projected onto glass walls.
Aaron St. Pierre, a landscape architect sophomore, said he agrees with the decision to place the reflecting pools in the middle of the World Trade Center site.
“Because people have memorialized the area, it’s better to put up a memorial instead of building on the space,” St. Pierre said.
St. Pierre said these pools will give the victims’ families relaxation and peace of mind — something that a newly constructed tower would not be able to offer.
“It’s sacred for people,” St. Pierre said of the World Trade Center site. “It’s their place to reflect and comprehend.”
Other University students disagree with the selected design, saying the idea lacks originality.
“I don’t particularly agree with the selection,” said Daniel Maranto, a chemical engineering junior. “It seems as though it will look like the reflecting pool in Washington D.C. They should create a design specifically for the Sept. 11 attacks.”
Despite the opposing views, St. Pierre said the reflecting pools are a fitting tribute to the terrorist attacks.
“The water represents clarity and peace of mind for people struggling to comprehend,” St. Pierre said. “It’s a quiet space to reflect and remember people and events.”
According to the World Trade Center memorial website, construction on the World Trade Center site could begin as early as the end of this year.