DUAL MEMORY
9/11 Memorial
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation held an international design competition in the fall of 2003 for “a single memorial to remember and honor all of the individuals killed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993”. A thirteen-member jury that included Maya Lin, the designer of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C, selected Dual Memory as one of eight finalists from 5,201 submissions from 63 countries. This turned out to be the largest architecture and design competition ever held.
Dual Memory is a memorial experienced from two points of view: from that of an individual and from that of a collective community. Each is represented in the footprints where the towers once stood. The North Footprint, dedicated to Individual Memory, is composed of a plane of water, 2,982 light portals, interactive water walls and a private space at bedrock. The light portals densify as they approach the Emotional Core at the center of the footprint. The South Footprint, dedicated to Collective Memory, is a quiet garden surrounded by a grove of trees. The trees stand as a symbol of re-growth and new life. The Sugar Maples, native to the state of New York, grow in the soil of the 92 countries that suffered in the great loss. A shared path guides visitors through bands of nature that form around the Emotional Core of the South Footprint. A raised bed of wild roses surrounds a quiet sitting space for meditation and contemplation. Seasonal art and artifact installations related to the attacks are exhibited in this space.
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