The National September 11th Memorial

South pool of the September 11th Memorial

The National September 11th Memorial is vast and imposing. The Memorial is a tribute to the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center site, near Shanksville, Pa., and at the Pentagon, as well as the six people killed in the World Trade Center bombing in February 1993.

The Memorial’s twin reflecting pools are each nearly an acre in size and feature the largest manmade waterfalls in the North America. The pools sit within the footprints where the Twin Towers once stood. Architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker created the Memorial design selected from a global design competition that included more than 5,200 entries from 63 nations.

The names of every person who died in the 2001 and 1993 attacks are inscribed into bronze panels edging the Memorial pools, a powerful reminder of the largest loss of life resulting from a foreign attack on American soil and the greatest single loss of rescue personnel in American history.

[from 911memorial.org]

View NW across the south pool towards the World Financial Center

The plaza is very open, noticeably so when entering the plaza from the surrounding density of Lower Manhattan. White oaks are planted at regular intervals throughout the plaza. The pools are cavernous and contain basins where water falls to unseeable depths. The scale of the site is very impressive.

World Trade Center complex in red

The full buildout of the World Trade Center complex will eventually include over 10,700,000 square feet of office and retail space. The Port Authority of New York will eventually develop 1,300,000 square feet in WTC 5 on the south side of Liberty street. The visualization above shows the density surrounding the complex.