Reflecting Absence
"The water defines the voids and cascades down through them. To get to the lower levels of the memorial, visitors will walk down along the face of the slurry wall, as though they are descending through geological time. Indeed, in the depths of the memorial, one comes to bedrock, the very foundation of the towers that were destroyed on 9/11.
The initial version of 'Reflecting Absence' was powerful but stark. The memorial design jury performed a great service to the city by encouraging revisions that produced a purity of design deserving strong protection. The design that was revealed yesterday is one in which privacy and community work together, where one can find intimacy in the broad expanse of ground zero. Above all, it is a place where the urban texture of lower Manhattan is reunified and given something it never had before: an inviting, natural, open space."
NYTimes Op-Ed
The initial version of 'Reflecting Absence' was powerful but stark. The memorial design jury performed a great service to the city by encouraging revisions that produced a purity of design deserving strong protection. The design that was revealed yesterday is one in which privacy and community work together, where one can find intimacy in the broad expanse of ground zero. Above all, it is a place where the urban texture of lower Manhattan is reunified and given something it never had before: an inviting, natural, open space."
NYTimes Op-Ed
