15th Anniversary of 9/11

To commemorate the 15th anniversary of 9/11, we thought it appropriate to highlight the World Trade Center (WTC) complex as it stands today. While One World Trade Center (1WTC) serves as the icon for Lower Manhattan, it is one in a handful of new WTC buildings that surround the 9/11 memorial and museum all designed by world-renowned architects. The combination of these structures provides appropriate space for visitors to reflect, mourn, and hope.

The 9/11 Memorial sits on the site of the original World Trade Center. Two immense, square waterfalls now sink into the ground within the footprints where the Twin Towers once rose toward the sky creating a sobering, contemplative mood augmented by the rush of water drowning out the city noise. A list of the names of those who lost their lives lines the perimeter of the nearly one-acre pools; these are surrounded by a plaza that boasts over 400 swamp white oak trees that change with the seasons. The memorial is a quieting space permitting Americans to gather in grief and unity by nature of the land we call home.

1WTC towers over the skyline of New York City as the tallest building in the western hemisphere, measuring 1,776 feet – an intentional reference by architects SOM to the year our forefathers signed the Declaration of Independence. The first twenty stories provide a sturdy, 200-foot wide square base that mimics the dimensions of the Twin Towers. From this point, eight glass isosceles triangles taper to the top at the 104th floor meeting another square rotated 45 degrees from the base forming a regular octagon at roughly the midpoint. This simple play of geometry allows for a dynamic interaction of light as the sun passes during the day, soaking in, reflecting, and refracting light at different angles. This is a proud, hopeful, iconic building representative of American resolve and spirit.

While 9/11 still sits heavy in our hearts, the new WTC provides the opportunity to look to both past and future. The memorial lets us remember, as we gaze down into the reflecting pools and 1WTC draws our attention upwards once more. The passing of time, visible in the trees of the plaza and the light through the buildings, moves us forward and the constant rush of the waterfalls holds onto a memory. In the new WTC complex, we are reminded of the paradoxical fragility and resiliency of life, which is something truly precious.

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