January 7, 2008
PLAYback
This week in A&D
Four years ago today, Israeli architect Michael Arad–of Handel Architects, a New York and San Francisco-based firm–and landscape architect Peter Walker received word that their “Reflecting Absence” entry had been selected to memorialize the victims of the World Trade Center attacks.
A panel of 13 jurors made the announcement after 12 hours of deliberation at Gracie Mansion, six weeks of back-and-forth, multiple rounds of revisions and enhancements, and more debates, arguments, and even a “time out” called by former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani.
“Reflecting Absence” consists of a park at street level. Two recessed square pools located 30 feet below street level are fed by waterfalls that line the walls. At the center of these pools are recessed squares into which the water flows.
The groundbreaking took place in March 2006 and expected completion is September 11, 2010.
