“On Nov. 19, 2003, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation announced eight finalists in the competition to design a permanent memorial at the World Trade Center.”
I’m not sure which one I like best. (Not that the deciding committee asked me what I thought!!)
The “Suspending Memory” one struck a chord – it somehow seems to capture the vastness of what occurred that day … and not just the vastness, not just the collapse of the buildings and the beginning of a war, but the loss of innocent human life.
I think I have to agree with Michele here, and say that “Garden of Lights” is my favorite.
I think maybe because there is something abstract about it, something heightened … (as opposed to a garish memorial like this one – Yuk.)
Also: the darkness appeals to me, personally.
When I go to remember the dead, I don’t want to be in a big echoey flourescent-lit hall, with grey carpeting.
I want it to be a space of contemplation, a space of meditation, a space where loss can be expressed, let out. Where people can come who were NOT here on that day, and feel that they have mourned too, grieved too.
I prefer Reflecting Absence, it strikes me as most somber of the proposals.
The memorial I wanted was the two world trade towers rebuilt exactly as they were, if not taller.
Knock them down, and we’ll kick your ass, then put them back. That’s the message that should have been sent, not whining about “footprints” and such like.
Oh well.