WTC Memorial - by Michael Arad (Architect) and Peter Walker (Landscape)

[Nordica]

You don't really mean that Info.

You and Dave should spend some time flipping through the online exhibition of the memorial competition. It's a poor venue but better than nothing. It would have been a small concession if they had showed the cuts leading up to the finalists, but that would have revealed too much to the public.

It's still interesting to analyze. A full third of the entries were from NY, even RA, though it was done by an Israeli. I think some European entries may have been done by Americans. So origin loses some meaning, but there's much more.

I've flipped through many, but probably less than half and only looked closely at a few. To read them all would be like reading "War and Peace" over and over. Make sure and read the NY entry from Kellogg Wong, it's my favorite read. So far I have several that I like much better than RA.

I'm an industrial designer and modest about it, but good at what I do. I have expertise about what makes good design. RA isn't.

[EugeneNYC]

Just saw this newsletter posted on BuildTheMemorial.org... (Not that they are telling us anything new)

http://www.buildthememorial.org/site....pdf?docID=961

[lofter1]

Sorry if I'm kicking a dead horse but the people who put out the "WINTER 2006" brochure ^^^ are idiots.

The rendering shown on page two of the "WTC Site Plan" shows the new smaller Snohetta cultural building site, but continues to show the F****** Tower as a parallelogram pushing out towards West St. rather than the more recent square-based site as redesigned more than 6 months ago.

Just another indication that there is no leadership or driving force coordinating the site.

It's clearly a F****** mess behind the scenes.

[lofter1]

this woman has her work cut out for her ...

A Leader Is Chosen for the 9/11 Museum

By ROBIN POGREBIN
NY Times
Feb. 9, 2006

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/08/ar...pagewanted=all

Seeking a leader to guide a much-disputed 9/11 museum into existence at ground zero, officials announced yesterday that they had settled on Alice M. Greenwald, an associate director for museum programs at the Holocaust Museum in Washington.

In Ms. Greenwald, the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation sought someone seasoned in addressing a highly charged chapter of history to plan the museum.

The museum's future has been uncertain for months. Part of Daniel Libeskind's original master plan for ground zero, the building was originally to be shared by the International Freedom Center, a nascent organization dedicated to human rights, and the Drawing Center, a SoHo-based exhibition spaced devoted to works on paper.

Both organizations were forced off the site under pressure from relatives of 9/11 victims who questioned whether their programming would be sufficiently patriotic.

In a telephone interview yesterday from Washington, Ms. Greenwald, 54, said she was not daunted by the potent influence of the family members but welcomed their input in conceiving the museum.

"They have to have a privileged voice in the process," Ms. Greenwald said. "By the same token, you have to create a narrative that allows your visitor to come in and understand what happened. It's a partnership."

At the Holocaust Museum, "we deeply value the authentic voice of the survivor," Ms. Greenwald added. "The way you integrate those voices is part of the challenge."

Because the two cultural institutions originally chosen for the museum were eliminated, many of those involved in the downtown rebuilding effort have expected that the institution would become primarily a visitor center with some 9/11-specific exhibits.

Ms. Greenwald dismissed that idea. "If it is, I'm the wrong person for the job," she said. "I don't think of museums as places that just hold artifacts."

Ms. Greenwald began working at the Holocaust Museum as a consultant in 1986, serving as a member of the original design team for the museum's permanent exhibition.

"I don't think I would have considered leaving had I not had the fundamental belief that this museum has the potential to have the same level of moral significance," she said of what is to be called the World Trade Center Memorial Museum.

"We need to say, what's our goal, who's our audience, what's the big message we want people to take away, what do they need to know?" Ms. Greenwald said. She added that she hoped to build a "programmatic consensus" although there would inevitably be some "creative tension."

"We're going to focus on memorialization, we're going to focus on loss," she added. "I don't know what the meaning is going to be."

Initial reaction seemed positive. Monica Iken, founder of September's Mission, whose husband, Michael, died in the south tower of the World Trade Center, said yesterday that Ms. Greenwald "has done an exemplary job at the Holocaust Museum."

"She has told a very painful story and memorialized those millions who were killed in a horrific way," she said. "We hope that she tells the difficult story of Sept. 11 just as well."

Gretchen Dykstra, the president and chief executive of the memorial foundation, said that Ms. Greenwald seemed ideally suited to the post, for which Ms. Dykstra said some 35 people applied and 8 were interviewed.

"She is a woman of real depth and thoughtfulness," Ms. Dykstra said. "It's a challenging set of circumstances because people died here."

Ms. Dykstra defined the museum's purview as "anything that has to do with the telling of the story and the interpretation of 9/11."

Both she and Ms. Greenwald said it was too soon to specify an operating budget or to discuss the specific content of the museum, which will devote 65,000 square feet to exhibition space, compared with the Holocaust Museum's 36,000 square feet.

Ms. Greenwald will be paid $300,000 a year, officials said.

Of the $500 million budget for the memorial and museum, $100 million has been raised so far, Ms. Dykstra said, and another $200 million is to be transferred to the foundation from the development corporation.

The foundation is not yet raising money for a planned performing arts center at ground zero that is being designed by Frank Gehry, Ms. Dykstra said. Still, the development corporation is interviewing candidates for a director's position for the institution, said Stefan Pryor, president of the corporation.

The building is to be shared by the Joyce Theater, which presents dance, and the Signature Theater Company, an Off Broadway Theater Company.

Asked about the fate of the Freedom Center, which did not survive at ground zero, Ms. Greenwald said, "My gut reaction is that it may have been an incredibly creative idea that was woefully premature."

Might the 9/11 museum then also qualify as premature? "This is a museum of memory," Ms. Greenwald said. "And when you're talking about memory, it is never too soon."


Glenn Collins contributed reporting for this article.

Copyright 2006The New York Times Company

[JMGarcia]

"But yet the families have had to fight tooth and nail every step of the way."

To be obeyed that is.

[Citytect]

The memorial should not be built for the families of the deceased victims. It should be built for the general public. What gives the families the right to dictate what is to be built at the WTC? Some will say, these people's lose gives them the right. I think not. The long term benefit of the city and all the people who live here, all the people who visit, and all the people who were impacted by the tragedy of 9/11 should be top priority. The memorial isn't a therapy session for some of the families. They need to get a clue.

[BrooklynRider]

Well, if you've visited the National Holocaust Museum, you have a mental image of what this horrendous thing will be like. A total immersion and recreation of the collapse for the enjoyment of visitors. Ghastly.

[Nordica]

"We're going to focus on loss" she added.

Hey, that's a good idea. Jump into that bottle of emotional misery and get really bummed. We wanna see tears!

It takes a hero to get on with life. Nothing's going to bring them back.

Aren't there a few too many Holocaust experts running this show?

Can't we get some Buddists involved, they seem to have something going and they've been persecuted. Remember the Pol Pot regime, you could get murdered for knowing how to read.

[lofter1]

"We're going to focus on loss" she added.

mausoleum / cemetery / sarcophogous / coffin

good way to spend $500,000,000

[lofter1]

This whole thing has gone out of control.

Just bring back Koenig's "The Sphere" from the original WTC Plaza, outline the footprints within the surface of the new plaza, add a small remembrance plaque and let that tell the story ...

[ablarc]

Originally Posted by lofter1

Just bring back Koenig's "The Sphere" from the original WTC Plaza, outline the footprints within the surface of the new plaza, add a small remembrance plaque and let that tell the story ...

Sounds OK to me.

[Fabrizio]

gets my vote.

[Nordica]

OK lofter, certainly better than the overpriced boondoggle that's planned.

Take it a step further backward, just grass (maybe one or two trees), pave over the footprints. A couple of strategically placed walkways. Allow dogs and frisbee games, skateboards, roller skates, whatever, just so it's lively and uncontrolled. If it has to have a name, call it Freedom Park.

Fire Gretchen and Alice, and whatever's left over from the $100 million, give it to "Save the Children" or some other worthwhile organization that's lean on the management cut.

[JMGarcia]

This memorial is a now win situation IMO. There are 3 very conflicting visions of it.

1. Those who want it as big as possible and focus it on their personal deep loss and sorrow they feel for friends and family.

2. Those who want it to memorialize the buildings and what they stood. There seems to be a number of people that feels the loss of the buildings as symbol just as deeply as the families feel about the loss of the people they knew.

3. Those who want to minimize the memorial. I think there is a strong undercurrent where people want to put the whole thing behind them along with all the uncomfortable feelings and realities 9/11 forced upon them. There's also a strong undercurrent that site should be dealt as just another public amenity to provide shopping, jobs and parkland.

Its no wonder everybody hates it because one thing for sure is these 3 concepts are never going to co-exist.

[BPC]

Originally Posted by lofter1

This whole thing has gone out of control.

Just bring back Koenig's "The Sphere" from the original WTC Plaza, outline the footprints within the surface of the new plaza, add a small remembrance plaque and let that tell the story ...

my vote too