Refined WTC Memorial

By Errol A. Cockfield Jr. | Staff Writer

11:03 PM EST, January 14, 2004

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The architect of the winning memorial design for the World Trade Center presented his vision yesterday, unveiling a tree-studded plaza with two reflecting pools above subterranean corridors that would house artifacts and victims' remains in alcoves set aside as shrines.

Joined by state and city luminaries at lower Manhattan's historic Federal Hall, Michael Arad displayed a refined model of the memorial, Reflecting Absence, the product of a weeklong series of meetings on both coasts between architects, officials and victims' families.

"I understand just how important this memorial is to so many people," said Arad, 34, a once-unknown designer for the New York City Housing Authority who has now gained wide attention.

Reflecting Absence has undergone notable changes after winning an international competition last week. Arad's scattering of pines has been replaced by groves of deciduous trees with the help of landscape architect Peter Walker. A cultural center Arad had proposed along West Street has been replaced by two buildings at the memorial's northeast corner.

During meetings Arad described as "contentious," architect Daniel Libeskind, the master planner for the World Trade Center site, encouraged Arad to expose more of the site's slurry wall — a mud-colored, concrete foundation that holds back the Hudson River. Visitors would view it from a descending ramp along the memorial's west side.

After complaints from victims' family groups, Arad crafted several underground nooks, including one for the interment of unidentified remains and another where the site's artifacts would be displayed.

"Memorials should leave room to imagine," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "This design, in a simple and eloquent way, has done that."

Reaction varied within the network of victims' family groups, with some embracing Arad's model and others saying the plan needed further adjustment.

An umbrella group, the Coalition for 9/11 Families, has called for artifacts, such as the tower's facades, a demolished fire truck and Fritz Koenig's sculpture, "The Sphere," to dot the memorial's plaza.

Monica Iken, founder of September's Mission, said she preferred Arad's creation of varying spaces for different remembrances because some victims' family members might be traumatized by artifacts on the plaza.

"If you go to Oklahoma City, you don't see a bombed, burnt-out building," she said.

Despite ongoing pressures, Gov. George Pataki made it clear during a talk with reporters that Arad will now have the final say on the outlines of the memorial. "It's his vision," Pataki said.

In another compromise, Arad, who had proposed that victims' names be listed randomly with no emblems, said he had agreed to the placement of insignias or badges next to the names of fallen uniformed rescue workers, such as firefighters and police.

Pataki and Bloomberg defended Arad's decision to list the names randomly, saying it underscored the notion of equality at America's fiber.

"Certainly, the men and women in uniform who rushed to the towers were heroes ... ," Pataki said, "but there were countless other acts of heroism by people that were out of uniform."