By Josh Rogers
A forest of oak trees will fill the World Trade Center memorial plaza under new details of the design unveiled Thursday.
Michael Arad, Peter Walker and Max Bond, the memorial’s architects, made adjustments to the design so pedestrians could enter the plaza from all four streets and they left an area where visitors could touch the World Trade Center bedrock and slurry wall and see many of the remnants of the boxbeam columns that supported the Twin Towers, answering a concern of many of the relatives of the victims of the Sept. 11 attack.
The initial reactions to the adjustments from residents who saw the changes were also positive. Jordan Gruzen, an architect and longtime resident of Battery Park City, said he likes that there is no longer a wall on West St. blocking access from his neighborhood. “It softens it with the stairs,” he said.
The Port Authority, owners of the site, agreed to requests from the city and Community Board 1 to move the truck and tour bus access ramp from the north side of Liberty St. to the south making entry to the memorial easier.
Walker, a California based landscape architect, said he chose oaks, because “it’s a majestic tree. It’s also relatively pest-free…. Oaks have a long life span and they are built sturdily. Sycamores tend to move around.”
The oaks will form a canopy with the lowest branches about 20 feet high. The spring green leaves will thicken to provide shade through the summer and on Sept. 11, and will turn to red and brown through the fall before dropping to let in light through the winter.
WWW Downtown Express
