Daniella on Design - The 9/11 Memorial and the Power of Simplicity

The new World Trade Center Memorial, designed by Michael Arad, opens on the 10th Anniversary of 9/11. This new memorial honors victims of September 11th and the victims of the earlier terrorist attach -- the 1993 bombing of the North Tower.

It is called "Reflecting Absence."

The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, once the tallest buildings in the world, were designed by the American architect Minoru Yamasaki in 1965 and completed in 1973. They were minimalist structures of glass and steel that symbolized a modernist corporate image. They were often derided as lacking in character but over the past decade, the Twin Towers have become icons of lost dreams. Paul Goldberger calls them Martyrs, and Martyrs are beyond criticism.

Memorials are a powerful force in conscience and politics, therefore they are often contentious. For centuries, simplicity and abstraction have been a trustworthy approach to memorial design, a poetic way to kindle memory and express deep trauma.

Consider the pure, basic geometry of Geothe's "Altar of Good Fortune," which he created for his garden in Weimar. Or his contemporary, Etienne Louis Boullee, who designed a memorial for the physicist and philosopher Isaac Newton. If Boullee's design had been built, it would have been in the form of a simple, perfect sphere.

One of the most significant memorials of our time is Peter Eisenman's Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. It is comprised of an entire city block covered in a grid of concrete pillars, which represent the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust. The minimalism symbolizes silence, the unspeakable; and to me, it also serves as a sign of atonement for a memorial forever lost to history.

In Berlin, there once stood another abstract memorial to the German Revolution of 1918, but it was demolished by the Nazis. Designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in the 1920s, it has since become an icon of early modernism. This remarkable monument was built of repurposed brick and emblazoned with party symbols to honor those who were murdered for opposing World War I.

When it was still in its planning phase, Maya Lin's Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. was controversial because of its minimalist structure. It is a V-shaped black wall sliced into the ground, on which the names of the fallen have been carved. As visitors search the names, you see your own reflection in the polished granite, suggesting a profound connection between the living and the dead.

The 9/11 Memorial, designed by Michael Arad was chosen from over 5,700 entries, the largest competition in the history of architecture. It consists of straightforward, deeply embedded squares, the footprints of the towers, a timeless echo of loss, and the void that remains. Waterfalls cascade into shimmering pools, ringed by bronze parapets bearing the names of the 2983 victims. At night, the names are illuminated from within. The twin fountains are surrounded by hundreds of trees on a serene plaza at street level, landscaped by Peter Walker & Partners.

This sublime memorial conveys the purity and grace of simplicity, a simplicity that honors the magnitude of shared tragedy.

The World Trade Center Memorial demonstrates the power of simplicity to evoke what we experienced ten years ago. Finally, there is a home for the ceremonies at Ground Zero, a home reflecting absence, a home conceived by design.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Daniella Ohad
• Design
• Architecture
• 9/11 Memorial
• World Trade Center
• Michael Arad
• Reflecting Absence
• Twin Towers
• Memorials
• Minoru Yamasaki
• Yamasaki
• Modernism
• Paul Goldberger
• Memorial Design
• Altar of Good Fortune
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• Goethe
• Étienne-Louis Boullée
• Cénotaphe à Newton
• Isaac Newton
• Peter Eisenman
• Holocaust Memorial
• Berlin
• Loudwig Mies van der Rohe
• Maya Lin
• Vietnam Veterans Memorial
• Peter Walker & Partners
• Ground Zero

[RICHLOOK]

good points to think about before judging the 9/11 memorial....... I see it now in a different light

[rayreich]

Daniella

Truly "A timeless echo of Loss" (Absence)...loss of American innocence as well as safety and arrogance...Thank you for your ongoing contributions to our education on design as well as a vehicle for reflection of who we are and what we desire....Ray Reich