'Minimalist' memorial for WTC

2004-01-07 09:10

New York - A design consisting of two reflecting pools and a large grove of trees was chosen for the World Trade Centre memorial after an eight-month competition that drew more than five thousand entries from around the world, officials announced.

The "Reflecting Absence" memorial, created by designers Michael Arad and Peter Walker, was chosen by a 13-member jury of artists, architects and civic and cultural leaders. The winning memorial was announced on Tuesday by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the agency overseeing the rebuilding of the site.

The reflecting pools will mark the footprints of the World Trade Centre towers. Life and rebirth

The design previously had a vast open plaza marked by just a few trees, but will now include "teeming groves of trees, traditional affirmations of life and rebirth," said jury chair Vartan Gregorian, of the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

"The result is a memorial that expresses the incalculable loss of life and its regeneration," Gregorian said.

The development agency also said it is flexible about the grouping of victims' names at the memorial, a point bitterly fought by rescue workers who want separate recognition for their colleagues.

Still, the memorial drew an icy reception from some victims' families, who accused the jury of ignoring their input during a hasty deliberation and said the design failed to convey the horror of the attack.

Anthony Gardner, who lost his brother in the September 11 attack and is a member of a coalition for family groups, said the design is "unacceptable".

"This is minimalism, and you can't minimalise the impact and the enormity of September 11," Gardner said. "You can't minimalise the deaths. You can't minimalise the response of New Yorkers."

The memorial will be one of two focal points at the site, along with a 532.8m glass skyscraper known as the Freedom Tower. Four other buildings are planned where the World Trade Centre once stood.

The two pools in the design would sit nine metres below street level, connected by an underground passageway and a small alcove where visitors can light candles.

"I think it's an idea that is simple, that is bold, that clearly refers to the footprints of the building," said Daniel Libeskind, the architect who designed the master plan for the 6,4ha site.

A jubilant Arad, a 31-year-old Israeli who has designed two police stations in his job at the city housing authority, said he was surrounded by well-wishers after learning his plan was chosen.

"I hope that I will be able to honour the memory of all those who perished and create a place where we may all grieve and find meaning," he said.

Walker, a San Francisco-based landscape designer whose major projects include the redevelopment of the site of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, was added to the memorial project after Arad submitted his design.

- AP