The site is conceived as an open park, a space to be shared. The memorial itself is intended to be inhabited by visitors; to be moved through, into and around. The tower footprints are marked and made habitable by steps, which allow people to sit, or rest, or stay. A path knits the footprints together through the memorial.
The sky windows and the periscope appear as objects on a grassy hill. These volumes provide human scale elements on the vast expanse of the site. At night they will mark the site as beacons. From the street level, these glass roofed volumes are conceived as tranquil pools of sky, drawing us in.
Upon entering the sanctuary, the visitor will see the memory wall - a window to the sky. Like a periscope, the memory wall allows a view of the sky, displaced from the direct line of sight. It is an expanse of glass, etched with the names of those 3022 men, women and children lost on February 26, 1993, and September 11, 2001. These memories, these names are written on the sky. Remembered individually with close attention; seen tragically in a collective larger view, the sky provides inspiration, strength and hope.
