Sept. 11 was a day that shook us all down to our lowest depths, but no geographic community felt the pain more deeply than Lower Manhattan. Thirteen jurors convened by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. are getting ready to pick one of eight possible designs to honor the lives of about 3,000 innocent people lost on 9/11 and in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. As the jurors ask for adjustments from the design teams, we look at the possibilities from a community point of view and offer our advice.
The memorial must be in the place where thousands died, where uniformed and civilian heroes were killed saving others, where the best of humanity came together to begin to fight an evil that few of us knew existed when we woke up on Sept. 11.
Many have been disappointed by the designs and we share many of the criticisms we have heard since the plans were released last month. On the other hand, we would also be cautious if a consensus were emerging around one design. If we were all embracing one plan, it is our suspicion that we would be picking the wrong thing — a perfect plan for 2003 that would fail miserably when tested over time.
We are not going to recommend a particular design although we do see a lot of promise in one, Garden of Lights by French architecture professor Pierre David with two of his American students, Sean Corriel and Jessica Kmetovic. Their design has many strengths but it is also problematic. We don’t know if this team will be able to overcome the significant problems, but it is our hope that the jury is giving this team serious consideration with a strong directive to see if it can become the best of eight plans.
The place where Garden of Lights works best is closest to the street, where hundreds of thousands of people will see and experience it day after day. The footprints of the Twin Towers would be two prairies to be cultivated by a different gardener every year. Surrounding the footprints would be an apple orchard that would bear fruit every September. The idea is so simple, yet so powerful.
One of the problems can be easily rectified, the designers’ recommendation that the prairies and gardens be open for only two hours a day. The fixtures would cause a problem and would likely need to be lowered so people could walk thought the orchards. We also have concerns about the large number of lights that need to be powered and maintained under this plan. Somewhere at the site there would need to be a gathering space for Sept. 11 and other ceremonies.
Most of the plans including Garden have an over-reliance on technology, which will undoubtedly seem dated quickly. Below ground, we think all of the plans make too little use of the remnants of the W.T.C.
Whether or not Garden of Lights turns out to be the best plan, most of all we hope the jurors pick the design that can evolve into a timeless and moving tribute to the lives that were lost as well as the ones that were saved, that will become a place where family members feel their loved ones have been properly honored, where visitors from around the world will want to visit time and time again and a place that Downtowners can embrace as a cherished and oft-visited part of their living neighborhood.
