Approaching the edge of the waterfalls for the first time can take your breath away. The vastness of the voids, combined with the rushing sound and motion of the water, is as glorious as it is terrifying; like the towers are forever falling, sucked down into the bowels of the earth. I can’t imagine any gesture that would be more appropriate or beautiful than what architect Michael Arad has designed for the city. The two square pools are placed within the footprints of the fallen towers, and are surrounded by an urban landscape that features rows of white oak trees. The outdoor portion of the complex was completed in time for the 10-year anniversary ceremonies this year, but the museum and underground portions of the site are not due to open until Fall 2012.

The design competition for the memorial (announced in April 2003) was the largest of its kind, ever. There were 5,201 entries from 49 states and 63 foreign countries, all archived online. A panel of judges that included surviving family members, local residents, city planners, architects, and artists announced the winner in January 2004: “Of all the designs submitted, we have found that Reflecting Absence by Michael Arad, in concert with landscape architect Peter Walker, fulfills most eloquently the daunting but absolutely necessary demands of this memorial. In its powerful, yet simple articulation of the footprints of the Twin Towers, Reflecting Absence has made the voids left by the destruction the primary symbols of our loss…” In fact, Arad was the only finalist to ignore WTC master planner Daniel Libeskind’s requirement for the buildings to overhang the tower footprints, and ended up winning the commission as a result.

The museum pavilion still under construction is designed by the Norwegian firm Snøhetta, and will take visitors 70 feet below ground to the original foundations of the World Trade Center. As to why the construction has taken so long, Kate Levin from the NYC’s Department of Cultural Affairs explains, “The development of the 9/11 Memorial and museum takes place at the arguably most complicated construction site on the planet. For starters, the memorial and museum rests on a transit hub with multiple rail lines, a state of the art security area, a massive underground parking lot, infrastructure to support at least four office towers, and it’s on a landfill.” The ground-level landscaping is actually more of a green roof for the train station and other facilities below. An innovative ‘suspended paving’ system provides areas of uncompacted soil for the trees roots to grow, and collects excess rainwater for irrigation.

One of the judges on the design selection panel was Maya Lin, who designed the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C. when she was still a 21 year-old student at Yale. Her original concept from 1981 was also selected from a large pool of competition submissions. It’s severe, abstract design was the opposite of what many thought a public monument should look like. The highly politicized debate is featured in the documentary Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision by Freida Lee Mock. But it was the work of land-artist Michael Heizer that helped pave the way for these void-in-the-earth monuments. Double Negative (1969-70) consists of two gigantic trenches cut into the top of a mesa in the Nevada desert. 240,000 tons of rock were blasted away to create the empty space. On view at the Dia Beacon is Heizer’s North, East, South, West (1967), which now looks like a study for Arad’s 9/11 Memorial design.

Interview with architect Michael Arad.
Documentary about the white oak trees.
History Channel video about the names.

You’ll need to reserve a free pass from the memorial website here. The plaza is a nice place to hang out during the day, but the waterfall pools are more dramatic at night when they are lit from within.