A visit to the 911 Museum and Memorial in New York City is inevitably one that evokes strong emotions and recollections. The events of 11th September, 2001, were such that virtually everyone alive at the time recalls where they were when it occurred or when they heard the news. In my case, I was in far west China 2 days away from a planned crossing into Pakistan, about as far away physically as could be imagined.
Today the site of the former World Trade Center is redeveloped (with further developments planned) with a museum, memorial and new tower, the One World Trade Center or “Freedom Tower”.
Creating such monuments in a sympathetic and satisfying way is always going to be challenging given the feelings that so many people have about the site and the historic events.
The museum itself is a huge space that preserves in place some of the original engineering elements of the former building as well as displaying some relics such as twisted metal beams and supports. The most poignant displays relate to the nearly 3000 who perished in the attacks with audiovisual recollections of them by their families. Those recollections help to ensure that those lost are not left as anonymous statistics. Not surprisingly, photography and sound recording of those displays aren’t permitted.
Outside the museum are the two black square pit-like water features in place of the original north and south towers. Water cascades in from all four sides before disappearing into a second pit. The effect to me seemed to be a sense of water pouring into a bottomless abyss. Whether that’s the feeling the designers intended to convey or not, I don’t know.
These images and others are part of my USA 2018 gallery. ~KD