A review of the 9/11 memorial by good old Wytold

[Alan Ray, RLA]

yes, “a contest of interests” he nailed it….thanks for posting Henry. While the memorial is very powerful, I agree with him 100% the site should have been left as an open space….

[Heather Smith]

I wonder how they decided to focus on distilling the grief into two yawning holes. The author in the article Henry posted mentioned needing to turn away. I wonder what the site would look like if it had been designed as a place for healing and restoration, rather then a monument to despair. I like the idea of the tree that had been nursed back to health and planted…that makes sense to me. They mention the site being incorporated into a lunch location for workers but it feels so heavy. I am sure it is tricky to find a middle ground in offering the correct amount of reverence and utility. The more I think of it though, the more I think it represents a sort of hopelessness that I don’t want to see a monument to. When they spoke about the architect creating a larger chasm in the fountains I couldn’t help thinking, “why?”. Was the reality of the event not enough to be burned into our minds? Sorry for the tangent, just trying to wrap my mind around the magnitude of the design.

[Trace One]

Aside from the ‘focusing on grief’ aspects of this design, I think what bothers me most about it are two things (since I asked myself for my own opinion..!)

First is the functionality aspects, which is weird for me – I am the opposite of a technician. But I look at this and think how it is going to look when they have run out of money to run it, the fountain no longer flows because it broke and was never fixed, or the water is diverted, deemed too precious, and so we now end up with two vast concrete pits..It reminds me slightly of the ‘runnals’ of the Salk Institute which became conduits for electrical wiring for outdoor events..Everything has a future, and a good design should be able to take it..Prospect Park and the Viet Nam Memorial are both great,despite aging – they are aging very gracefully.

Second, In designing,  I think we are responsible for something I call ‘cognates’  – the echoes of the form you are buiding has in our society.

In our society, the cognate for this memorial is the toilet. I think the cognate,the mental echo, is inescapable..Perhaps I watch too much south park, but my mind goes right there, when I see this thing.

[Rob Halpern]

A void in our confidence. Another in our hearts.

But given that this is a Memorial, we must ask, “How will it appear in thirty years? Or a hundred?”

A memorial on this scale ought not to be just for those who personally recall the day… should it?

[Jon Quackenbush]

My personal preference would have been an act of defiance.  I would have created a world class public space which focused on bringing life back to the space opposed to a cold and depressing reminder of all those that died.  I think that would have been more constructive in the healing process honor to those we lost — instead of memorializing a permanent wound, illustrate that life can and does move on.

Of course I am completely tired of hearing about September 11th and being told to never forget, as if I could.  I agree with Paul Krugman’s sentiment that the memory of the tragedy has been poisoned due to abhorrent behavior of our political elite after the attack.  9/11 has become a blunt hammer used as a litmus for our patriotism, a reason to erode personal freedoms in the guise of safety, and a reason for reckless use of our military and that bothers me more than I can vocalize. 

The icing on the spoiled cake was seeing sentimental Budweiser 9/11 themed TV commercials when watching football this past weekend…

I hope you guys don’t consider me un-American when I say I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in visiting this monument, ever.

[Author]

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