World Trade Center Update

Above is some video that I took of the September 11th Memorial around 5 pm yesterday. It was my first time seeing it, and also my first time walking through what used to be called Tobin Plaza, since 2001. What can be said? The architects and planners did good work. I thought the external Memorial’s effect was powerful, without being overtly depressing. I found it interesting that while the new Trade Center buildings are asymmetrical in design, the elements of the memorial Plaza — the pools, of course, but also the seating, the paving stones, the ivy beds, the lamps — are all very symmetrical, like a series of subtle echoes of the Yamasaki buildings that were lost. I don’t know yet if I’ll visit the museum, which opened this week to some, and opens soon to all.

Here are some still photos of the Plaza. The North and South Pools correspond to the footprints of the former towers, respectively:

Ivy beds are interlaced with the bluestone blocks that cover the Plaza.

Santiago Calatrava’s World Trade Center PATH/NYC Subway station, still under construction. Frank Gehry’s New York tower hovers in background.

Another view of the North Pool.

Memorial lamps also allude to the geometry of the lost complex.

A rose placed on the edge of the North Pool.

One WTC, nearing completion.

The South Pool.

Signage.

Raindrops collecting on the edge of the North Pool.

Benches whose design echoes the geometry of the Yamasaki towers.

South Pool.

Three WTC nearing completion in the fog.