9/11 MEMORIAL: LOSS, REMEMBRANCE,
RENEWAL
A proposal by Susana Torre
"It was through
acts performed at a sacred site that the illusion of mundane
time was suspended."·
Paul Connerton, How Societies Remember
This MEMORIAL is not just
a place, but primarily a RITUAL OF RENEWAL that is made visible
by changes within the footprints of the World Trade Center towers
over time, as shown in the three drawings. It also consists of
a FIELD OF LOSS, and a SANCTUARY FOR REMEMBRANCE. Together they
convey the enormity of September 11, 2001, provide a place for
grieving and quiet reflection, and re-inscribe in our collective
memory not only the loss, but also the process of regeneration
needed in order to go on with life afterwards.
LOSS
The FIELD OF LOSS is the
ground plane of the memorial site. It has been raised from thirty
to sixteen feet below street level. This allows the interconnected
floor of the towers' footprints and of the Sanctuary to be further
recessed to the full thirty feet below the street. An access
to the site is through an inclined plane on Liberty Street, which
is also the roof of the Sanctuary, in addition to the already
projected access ramps, elevator and stairs. Forty-foot deep
terraces form this plane, with glass infill in the risers providing
illumination to the Sanctuary below.
Three thousand and twenty
two markers, each approximately fourteen inches high, are randomly
disposed throughout the Field and on its perimeter, one for each
victim of the terrorist attacks of 2001 and 1993. Markers lined
up in straight lines commemorate those who voluntarily put themselves
in harm's way to enter the site as rescuers after the September
11 attack on the World Trade Center. The markers do not bear
names of specific persons; rather they are meant to convey the
magnitude of human loss. The markers' tops absorb light during
the day and give off a soft glow at night. If possible, the pavers
on the entire site will be made up of salvaged materials from
the World Trade Center. Other markers with the simple legend
"09-11-01" are placed throughout the entire Lower Manhattan
area that was physically affected by the demise of the towers.
REMEMBRANCE
The SANCTUARY is a space
for grieving, quiet reflection and ceremonies of remembrance.
It is a place to record the names of all the victims of September
11, 2001 and of those killed in the February 26, 1993 bombing
of the World Trade Center. It is a place to honor their diversity
and to preserve their last words. It is a place to hold the memories
of rescuers, survivors, and volunteers, etched on the Liberty
Wall.
The Sanctuary is an airy,
covered space, with North light streaming in. It suggests a cathedral
that seems quiet even when filled with hundreds of people. Its
center is occupied by the burial place of the unidentified remains
from the World Trade Center site. A private room for the victims'
families and loved ones overlooks both the Sanctuary and the
footprint of the South tower with its background waterfall. The
area of the Sanctuary is accessible by ramp and elevator and
is connected to the footprints of the towers via galleries. Visitor
services and storage are placed unobtrusively in the space between
the Sanctuary and the towers' footprints.
RENEWAL
The RITUAL OF RENEWAL occurs
and recurs both in time and in place. The place is the towers'
sunken footprints , whose walls are covered with a polished stone,
expanding the visual field of people inside the space. Visitors
descend via ramps or enter through the Sanctuary. The time ritual
consists of changing the nature of the space inside the footprints:
starting September 11 of every year, mist rises from the floor,
evoking our tears and lack of certainty after the event, until
spring, when the mist is replaced by cleansing water that fills
the footprints and reflects the sky. In summer, the reflecting
pools become meadows until the next September, as the Ritual
of Renewal continues to re-inscribe the shared, collective memory
of September 11, 2001, to help the survivors and witnesses to
go on, and to REMEMBER.
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