I spent more than five years studying entries to the 2003 World Trade Center Memorial Design Competition, compiling them in my book “9/11 Memorial Visions” (McFarland & Co, 2016). Soon after, I learned that the New York City memorial is only one of many, and I thought, “There must be some interesting ones that have been built…”
There are many using the “WTC Steel,” from the tremendous amount of twisted steel wreckage removed from “Ground Zero”. I decided to share it with the world for memorial purposes, piece by piece; the last piece in 2016. The availability of these “real” physical manifestations of the event may have led to much memorial building.
The vast majority of the memorials are similar, a combination of WTC Steel with a garden, a rock, a pool, the US flag, representations of the twin towers, a statues of first responders and the like, many at fire stations. Most are in the Northeast US, at or near fire stations. But, there are more unique creations.
Located in Padua, Italy, this memorial was designed by Daniel Libeskind, creator of the original plan for rebuilding the World Trade Center site. Interestingly, it, too, includes WTC steel.
"A twisted steel beam salvaged from the wreckage of the World Trade Center, which was donated by the United States to the Veneto Region and in turn to the City of Padua, was used to realize the design of an open and luminous book.” [libeskind.com]
The light of Liberty shines through the Book of History. This Book is open to the memory of the heroes of September 11, 2001. The eternal affirmation of Freedom is inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, as seen by millions of emigrants coming to America. In the left-hand page, is inscribed the dramatic beam salvaged from the World Trade Centre attack. The latitude of New York is connected to the center of Padua as the vertical hinge of the Book.
This memorial in Oak Lawn, IL combines WTC steel topped with sculptures created by the well-known artist Erik Blome.
Blome designed two, 14-foot-tall bronze spires, with 30 separate sections, or stelae, on each. The stelae feature different textures, imprints of World Trade Center architecture, or three-dimensional faces or objects.
One shows hands holding. From the artist:
9/11 is all about togetherness, it’s all about coming together. I think people held hands that day. People who didn’t know each other held hands that day...When you say first responders, we were all, in a sense, first responders that day.
Another shows two hands reaching for each other but not quite touching -- representing either loss or help, depending on how you interpret it. A lone firefighter hat sits on one stelae, and another shows a man covering his face with a cloth to convey the dust that swirled around ground zero.
This work is by well-known landscape architect Ken Smith.
Eleven Tears was commissioned by the American Express Corporation in memory of seven employees who died in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. Located in the ground floor lobby of Three World Financial Center the memorial is within view of the Trade
Center site.
Water, light, crystal, stone and metal form a powerful presence in the space that is abstract from a distance and intensely personal up close. Water drops fall from a seven-sided ceiling canopy into a seven-sided black granite reflecting pool of water. Suspended over the water surface is a 600-pound natural quartz crystal cut with seven facets that capture and reflect light in a beautiful way. The names of the seven victims are inscribed in the pool coping and brief remembrances are set into the pool bottom. The falling tear drops create small ripples in the still water of the pool providing a subtle animation and a quiet sound.
This memorial in Bayonne, NJ tops them all – both in height (10 stories) and strange history.
It was given to the United States as an official gift of the Russian government by Vladimir Putin as a memorial to the victims (26 of whom were Russian).
The prolific Russian artist, Zurab Tsereteli, was in his home in Moscow on the morning of September 11th. He watched the towers collapse on TV and was moved to tears. He went to work driving on a route that took him past the American Embassy. People were gathered outside the embassy gates to pay sympathies, to be together, and to mourn. He saw a mass of crying people and decided to use the image of a tear in a memorial.
The central sculpture is a bronze-clad tower the middle in which hangs a large nickel-surfaced teardrop. The eleven sides of the monument's base bear granite name plates, on which are etched the names of those who died.
It was initially given to the local government of Jersey City, but was rejected. It was then relocated to its present placement in a somewhat obscure spot in Bayonne.
This Westchester, NY 9/11 memorial by architect Frederic Schwartz is built in a park.
Forming an unbroken circle, the 109 individual strands representing local 9/11 victims emerge from the existing circular footprint on the plaza, and thus do not disturb the current paths and use of the park. The memorial is located at the intersection of many pathways and viewpoints, and thereby extends its presence into the surrounding landscape. Its visual lightness acts as a counterpoint to the solidity of an adjacent dam. It is open, can be approached from all directions and allows persons of all ages and abilities to move through it and experience it close-up.
The intertwined strands (like DNA) rise 80 feet from the ground reaching upward to the heavens. They are bound together in a literal and symbolic gesture exemplifying the strength of the Westchester community and the families who lost loved ones and are anchored to a concrete ring at the base. These thin, lightweight individual parts intertwine to create a stable structure; yet also sway gently in the wind. The reflective stainless steel changes with the light of day, lending a dynamic quality to the structure. Frederic Schwartz passed away in 2014.
This is the Staten Island, NYC memorial honoring their 274 residents killed on 9/11 and in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
The designer, architect Masayuki Sono, explains the concept this way: It originates in a desire to create a place that connects the victims back to us. It is conceived as two enlarged postcards symbolizing personal communications between loved ones. They are folded to reflect the
messages being personal, and its abstract quality to inspire people to find different meanings into it.
The walls are set to view the axis that once connected the community and Twin Towers across the harbor. They open towards water …and sky in elevation, creating a space with sense of privacy and liberation. But there is more…
Each Staten Islander is honored on walls with their profile silhouette, name and other facts…Recessed light shafts behind each profiles create depth and movement…allowing…light to pass through to highlight their silhouettes. All look across the harbor…as peaceful reminders of the past and hope for the future.
My book revealed new memorial ideas from 2003, a number of which featured ways to engage visitors beyond just looking. This built memorial does this in an intriguing way. It can be found at LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) and was designed by the team of BJ Krivanek and Joel Breaux.
Visitors enter across a relational threshold-inscribed: Daughter, Neighbor, Citizen, et al. The memorial’s floating mirrored dish reflects viewers as actors-within- a-scene, suggesting the psychological impacts and the national dialogue triggered by the attacks.
At its edge, visitors can move the floating, reflective dish, to activate the interplay of national perceptions-inscribed: United We Stand, Sea to Shining Sea, Home of the Brave, et al.-versus core American rights and ideals-inscribed: Privacy, Habeas Corpus, Assembly, et al.-suggesting the national dialogue triggered by the attacks. The relationship of these two concentric, superimposed rings of text are in constant flux, due to the movement of the floating dish, caused by water circulation, wind or a viewer's direct interaction.
Inscribed on the floating mirrored dish, reflected upward at night, are the personal traits of the victims -inscribed: Beloved, Equal, Strong, Honest, et al.-evidence of our diverse American citizenry and the characteristics that form our national identity. As projections at night, this constellation symbolizes the residual afterlife of the victims.
While 9/11 memorials in New York City, Washington, DC and rural Pennsylvania are “official," these represent somewhat independent creative responses to a horrific global event.
Read the personal stories of more than 180 memorial designers in Lester Levine's book 9/11 Memorial Visions.
Having lost a friend on 9/11, I became the only person to have ever read through all 5.201 entries to the 2003 World Trade Center Memorial Design Competition nearly 10 years later. After finding about 300 very innovative designs, I sought out their creators to learn their stories. This project ...
9 Comments
Lovely, thank you for sharing.
If there really are over a thousand 9/11 memorials, then that's more than 5 times the number of holocaust memorials.
For me, the strangest thing was when they start to edit out the WTC Towers from the old movies and tv shows. These days they are adding them in some productions.
I also wonder how many children are thought to distinguish Muslims from terrorists, arch enemies, devil worshipers etc.?
People in US tend to have a distinct inability to see shades of gray. Everything is black or white, good vs evil, red vs. blue, etc.
Miles, that is so true. Also, the ability to see the shades of gray often requires some additional intellect, homework, and curiosity.
I visited the Libeskind Memorial last year. It iwas awful!!
In retrospect probably a more accurate name.
Fascinating and well written. I could read all day.
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