11 September 2001; One of the most significant dates in the history of human civilization. The day is marked in red letters on the calendar page, which clearly divides the time of the twenty-first century. The day is known as Nine-Eleven or 9/11. Its position is one of the most horrific building accidents in America and the world. A memorial and museum, later known as the Nine Eleven Memorial or 'World Trade Center Memorial', was built on the same site to commemorate the deaths of nearly three thousand innocent people.
Three years after 9/11, in 2004 a memorial was erected at the site of the accident in memory of the victims, the design of which was selected through a competition. Out of about 5,000 architect designs, the judges chose an unknown, unfamiliar architect, Michael Arad.Architect Michael Arad called the event one of the most significant events of his life. Because, during the implementation of this design, he got a chance to know New York City in a new way. Construction began in 2007 and was opened to the public in 2011.
The 9/11 Memorial has two parts, a memorial and a museum. The museum is completely underground. When one visits this memorial, only the entrance will be visible on the ground, the rest will be covered with trees. The building that is built on the ground to enter the museum is actually an exhibition room or pavilion. Another architect, Peter Walker, designed the entire site landscape with Michael Arad.
Architect Arad was near the scene at the time of the 2001 tragedy. From the roof of another building he saw how the second plane came and hit the building on the south side. After the incident, Arad dreamed of building a memorial at the site, so a month later he made some initial sketches of his designs. Where one of the main ingredients was water. Today, even after the implementation of that design, the predominance of water is more noticeable. In the mind of a visitor, this monument is an excellent example of how an architect can reflect his thoughts. In Ara's own language,
"The way people look at New York now centered around this event has deeply impressed me. I wanted to find an answer. To me this construction is like a refinement."
The Memorial site is one of the most important commercial sites in New York. The memorial is even more eye-catching due to the large number of tall buildings in the vicinity. Like a small piece of jungle in a busy city! There are about 400 oak trees covering half of the 18 acres. And the memorial is located right where the Twin Towers were located. Although there are no buildings, there are two huge quadrangular holes, surrounded by black marble, and at eight o'clock water cascades down into them. The names of each killed person are engraved on the bronze panel on the marble. Arad said about the thinking behind the design,
"The two empty parts are the emptiness that has been created in the disappearance of thousands of innocent people. This void is never to be filled, so that even in the flowing water, the empty part is never filled. And the water falling on the black wall is like tears, which will never end."
Architect Arad erected a model on the roof of his house according to his initial thoughts. Later, when the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) announced the design competition, he put his ideas into practice and won the competition. But when he started working, he noticed that some of the designs of another architect, Daniel Liebskind, did not fit his thinking
Liebskind designed the underground part, where the entire memorial was underground. Arad praised the other parts of his design but could not accept it. Although adhering to this design was one of the prerequisites of the competition.
This part of me looks like an obstructed place and isolated from people. As far as I know New York, my experience is that the public place is very important in the life of the people of New York. A place where everyone can come together and even strangers can stand next to each other. Where you will feel sociality and friendship, which will make you brave.After that horrible attack came a time of unity, which was extremely beautiful. For a very short time, it was able to unite the whole world. "
Arad therefore changed the design of Libskind. Keeping in mind the importance of the public place, he built a huge plaza for New Yorkers in place of the memorial, at the heart of which are the two holes. Which was once the foothills of the famous 'World Trade Center'. There is a gallery for visitors just below these two eight-acre holes in Arad’s actual design.There, the names of the dead will be engraved on the walls of the waterfall, as if life after death. Again, when the visitors come up to the ground, to the level of the road, in the language of Ara, it is like 'getting back to life'. However, he had to face a challenge when this part of the design was completely canceled due to security reasons.
A difficult task for Ara was to compile, sort and engrave the names of the victims. It took several years to prepare the list with the help of the authorities and the families of the victims. Who was killed first in the face of the attack, who was next, who was where and who were relatives and acquaintances of each other - it was a difficult task to re-incorporate them into the design. According to Arad,
"More monks had a fear of fermentation. Many were giving a lot of nonsense. But I'm grateful to the Memorial Foundation and its head and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg."
Eventually with the help of the Memorial Foundation, Arad was able to successfully complete this difficult task.
Wow.. That's Good ❤