Sept. 11 memorial pick is 'Reflecting Absence'

[AP photo]

Enhancements to this winning entry by New York City designer Michael Arad will include a thicker grove of trees and exposure of the slurry well that remains from the twin towers. The names of all who died on Sept. 11, 2001, as well as the six victims of the first World Trade Center bombing, will surround the pools.

NEW YORK - A design consisting of two reflecting pools and a large grove of trees was chosen for the World Trade Center memorial after an eight-month competition that drew more than 5,000 entries from around the world, officials announced Tuesday.

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 by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the agency overseeing the rebuilding of the site.

The reflecting pools will mark the footprints of the World Trade Center towers. The development group said a revised version of the memorial will be unveiled next week, with significant changes that add trees and greenery around the footprints and expose the slurry wall, the last surviving piece of the trade center.

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 chairman Vartan Gregorian of the Carnegie Corp. of New York.

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 Sept. 11 attack and is a member of a coalition for family groups, said the design is "unacceptable."

"This is minimalism, and you can't minimalize the impact and the enormity of Sept. 11," Gardner said. "You can't minimalize the deaths."

The memorial, considered the long shot of three finalists chosen by the jury in November, will remember all of the victims of the Sept. 11 attack, including those killed at the Pentagon, in Pennsylvania and aboard the hijacked airliners. It also will honor the six people killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

The memorial will be one of two focal points at the trade center site, along with the 1,776-foot glass skyscraper known as the Freedom Tower. Four other buildings are planned where the trade center once stood.

The two pools in the design would sit 30 feet 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 16-acre site.

A jubilant Arad, a 31-year-old Israeli native 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 honor 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 site of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, was added to the memorial project after Arad submitted his design.

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