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Architects Reveal Plans for 9/11 Museum Entryway
Two days short of the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center, New Yorkers got their first glimpse of final designs for the pavilion gateway to the museum that will memorialize that day. Architects from the Norway-based Snøhetta design firm revealed plans for the $80 million glass-and-steel pavilion of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum during a news conference Sept. 9 on the top floor of 7 World Trade Center, the only building yet to rise out of the wreckage of 9/11. The pavilion’s chief architect, Craig Dykers, said the design was “a collection of narratives,” intended to tell two stories at once: the tragic fall of the trade center and the triumphant rebirth of Lower Manhattan. “It’s meant to move freely between reminiscence and perception,” Dykers said. “We’ve tried to remember that as important as any event of the past may be, it is the people of the present and the people of the future of this city that will, in fact, find a connection to the designs we create now.” The outer glass shell of the 40,000-square foot pavilion will sit between a rebuilt Greenwich Street and the footprint of the North Tower. It will house the main entrance of the 9/11 museum, the visitor information and ticketing booths, a 180-seat auditorium, a café, and a private room for victims’ families. Dykers said the pavilion, which will house two 80-foot steel trident-shaped columns that stood, staunch and defiant, amid the rubble of the Twin Towers, could be viewed as a connection between past and present—between the four office towers to be built on the site and the underground museum. “It’s a contemplative place,” Dykers said. “It connects these two worlds. It’s reflective of the site’s history, and its future needs.” While most of the other construction projects—all of the new office towers and the transportation hub—are mired in delays and budget shortfalls, Joe Daniels, president of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum said there is hope that at least the memorial park and glass shell of the pavilion could be completed by Sept. 11, 2011, the 10th anniversary of the attacks. “[The museum] has said consistently and continues to believe that it is both possible and essential for the memorial to be open to the public on the tenth anniversary,” Daniels said. The memorial plaza needs more support than the columnless mezzanine of the new PATH terminal below it would provide without complex engineering. Daniels and other memorial officials are pushing for a redesign of the station that would add column supports to the mezzanine and speed construction. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is building the station, is due to release a report Sept. 30 that is expected say whether there will be a design change in the station, enabling an earlier opening of the memorial. “It’s my hope and my expectation that when the Port Authority releases its report at the end of this month, the commitments that need to be made to open the memorial on 9/11/11 are reflected in that report,” Daniels said, “and that those commitments have, in fact, been made.” [Home][Back][Search][Contact] The Tribeca Trib · 401 Broadway, 5th Floor · New York, NY · 10013 · 212.219.9709 |