First Visit to the 9/11 Memorial Museum

On last Wednesday afternoon, we went to the 9/11 Memorial Museum for the first time.  In preparation, we had each downloaded an audio guide onto our phones and we brought along noise cancelling headphones to make sure that we could hear Robert DeNiro guide us through the museum step by step.

Of course, we arrived plenty early and had time for a leisurely visit to the 9/11 Memorial before heading inside to the museum.  The design of the Memorial park is by Michael Arad of Handel Associates, who won an international design competition.  Mr. Arad's design, called 'Reflected Absence', consists of two square pools in the footprints of the twin towers that were destroyed on 9/11/2001.  

The South Pool of the 9/11 Memorial with the 9/11 Memorial Museum beyond the trees.
Photo by McClure

The names of all those who perished that day at the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, PA (where United Flight #93 came down) and also those who died in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center are incised into wide bronze railings around the edges of the pools.  The groups that they were affiliated with are shown in smaller raised brass letters.  

Incised names of the deceased along with raised names of affiliated organizations on edge of South Pool.
Photo by McClure

From those railings water pours in continuous 30-foot high falls into the pools below.  

Water cascading into the South Pool.  The soothing sound of the water blocks out
noise from the surrounding city.  Photo by McClure

In the center of each pool is a giant square 'drain' through which the water is recirculated.  The two pools are surrounded by a forest of trees.  Arad teamed with the landscape architects Peter Walker and Partners in planning the selection and placement of the swamp oak trees, benches, lighting, ground cover and signage.  

Rows of swamp oak trees on the southwest part of the 9/11 Memorial.
Four WTC by Fumihiko Maki rises beyond.  Photo by McClure

The new buildings of the World Trade Center (WTC) site are rising around the two 9/11 Memorial Pools.  Four WTC sits east of the South Memorial Pool (the pool in the footprint of the original 2 WTC).  Four WTC is designed by Fumihiko Maki, the Pritzker-Prize-winning, Japanese architect.  It rises 72 stories (nearly 1,000 feet) and is currently the second tallest building on the WTC site.  The curtain wall is so beautifully evanescent that the building almost disappears into the sky.

The new One WTC, a.k.a. the Freedom Tower,  rises on the northwest corner of the site quite close to the North Memorial Pool (in the footprint of the original 1 WTC).   It is designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) based on preliminary ideas from Daniel Libeskind, the architect of the WTC's master plan.

One World Trade Center by David Childs of Skidmore Owings & Merrill with
Seven World Trade Center also by Childs to the right.  Photo by McClure

It is crystalline, but coarser than 4 WTC.  The 20-story base is a concrete bunker disguised by shimmery glass prisms. 

Above this base it transitions from square to octagon as it ascends to a clumsy flat roof surmounted by an awkward antenna/minaret which gets it to the promised 1,776-foot height.

One of the white roses inserted in the incised name of one of the victims of 9/11.
These roses were inserted in names on the 9/11 Memorial Pools to mark the birthdays of the victims who were born on August 20th -- the day we visited.
Photo by McClure

Directly north of the North Memorial Pool across Vesey Street is 7 WTC also by David Childs of SOM.  Like his 1 WTC design, it is built on a concrete base that contains the building's mechanical equipment and a power substation that serves all of lower Manhattan.  This 10-story base is covered in louvered stainless steel panels.  

Seven WTC by David Childs of SOM with North Pool of Memorial in foreground.
Photo by McClure

The transition to the glass curtain wall at the 11th floor is somewhat abrupt and graceless, but the glass curtain wall above is nicely detailed and at night emits faint blue light.  The building tops out at 52 stories (741 feet).

To the east of the North Memorial Pool, the spiky, white ribs of the Transportation Center designed by Santiago Calatrava are emerging.  

WTC Transportation Center by Santiago Calatrava under construction east of the North Memorial Pool.
Photo by McClure

Right now, it's impossible to determine just how well it will combine with the surrounding WTC buildings or how well it will function.  It could be striking, or just a grandiose, empty gesture.

Near the entrance to the Museum there were three bagpipers from uniformed services who lost members on 9/11. 

Three bagpipers preparing to play near the entrance to the Museum.  Photo by McClure

We're not sure if they play every day or if there was something special about August 20th that brought them out.

The entrance pavillion for the 9/11 Memorial Museum (most of the museum is underground) is an unusual collection of angles and shapes in silvery and translucent glass.  

Looking across the North Memorial Pool to the Museum Entrance Pavilion.  The base of Three WTC with white steel squares is just behind and to the left; the shimmering Four WTC rises behind on the right.  Photo by McClure

The design by Davis Brody Bond Snohetta attempts to recall the crumpled shapes of the buildings destroyed on 9/11.

After going through security screening for the Museum, you quickly descend a staircase alongside of a pair of the 'tridents' that were the signature shapes of the lower facades of Minoru Yamasaki's twin towers.  Now in rough, rusted steel they are a powerful reminder of the buildings that stood on the site since 1968.

Two 'tridents' -- the shapes that defined the base of the 'twin towers' stand near the Museum entrance.
Photo by McClure

The mezzanine level at the bottom of the staircase displays the stainless steel dedication plaque placed on April 4, 1973 at the completion of construction on the original WTC.  

Commemoration of the original World Trade Center to the workers who built it.
Photo by McClure

The mezzanine also has a balcony view of the 'slurry wall' of the 'bathtub' that was built underground around the perimeter of the WTC.  Luckily, on 9/11 the concrete and steel wall did not collapse -- which kept the site from being inundated by water from the Hudson River.  It is now an important symbol of New York City (and the nation) withstanding the onslaught of terrorism.

Portion of the 'slurry wall' that withstood the destruction of the original WTC in the Foundation Hall.
For scale note the people in the lower right corner of the photo -- they're 70 feet below ground level. 
Photo by McClure

You descend from the mezzanine ramp to the lowest level next to the 'survivor stairs' -- the stairway from the north side of the old WTC plaza down to Vesey Street -- that hundreds of survivors used as they fled from the destruction on 9/11.  

Looking down from the top of the 'survivor stairs' used by hundreds to escape the destruction.
Photo by McClure

For me, it is an especially poignant artifact.  For many years I met George at the bottom of those stairs after work (he for the Port Authority in 1 WTC and me for Chemical Bank and later Swiss Bank further east of the Trade Center) so that we could walk home to the West Village together.

Looking back up from the bottom of the 'survivor stairs'.  Photo by McClure

As you reach the bottom of the stairs you are facing the ghostly steel outlines of the columns of the south tower where they were encased in concrete at the bottom of the 'bathtub'. 

This row of steel boxes encased in concrete are the bases of the columns that formed the west wall of the south tower.  Photo by McClure

On a wall in the distance is a twisted piece of steel from the 93rd to 96th floor of the north tower which fell when the tower collapsed on 9/11. 

Twisted section of steel placed at the end of Tribute Walk.  Photo by McClure

The shape of the steel and its placement at the end of a long vista reminded me of the 'Winged Victory of Samothrace' in the Louvre.  

Hanging on the side wall of Tribute Walk are several memorial quilts including a huge one that has photographs of all of those who died that day organized by who they were, where they were and why they were there that day.    

One of the memorial quilts has pictures of each victim of 9/11 along with their affiliations.
Note the huge block of photos for the Fire Department of New York (FDNY).
Photo by McClure

Inside the footprint of the south tower is a memorial exhibition with information about each victim and personal artifacts that were recovered at the site.  There is also an education center with classrooms and at least two small theaters.

Memorial Hall, between the footprints of the two towers contains 'Trying to Remember the Color of the Sky on That September Morning' by Spencer Finch -- an entire wall of 2,983 squares of watercolor paper each painted a different shade of blue.  In the center of the wall is a quote from Virgil: 'No Day Shall Erase You from the Memory of Time'.  

'Trying to Remember the Color of the Sky on That September Morning' by Spencer Finch.
Photo by McClure

Behind that wall are the unidentified human remains from the attack in a space not open to the public that's maintained by the NYC Medical Examiner.

Photo by McClure

Along the Center Passage on the south side of the North Tower excavation are several huge artifacts -- 

Section of radio/TV antenna.  Photo by McClure

a piece of the radio/TV antenna that stood atop the North Tower which pierced the South Tower when it collapsed; 

Express elevator motor.  Photo by McClure

an enormous elevator motor from one of the express elevators that whisked people to the top and the two intermediate 'sky lobbies' of the twin towers; 

Crushed Ladder Company 3 firetruck from the front.  Photo by McClure

The rear end of Ladder Company 3 firetruck.  Photo by McClure

and, most moving, the crumpled remains of a fire truck from Ladder Company 3.  It's important to note that many families with children of all ages were visiting the Museum.  They remained amazingly quiet and respectful even when confronted with this firetruck. 

Inside the footprint of the North Tower is the Historical Exhibition which covers in ways both large and small the chronology of September 11, 2001 as it unfolded.  There are chronologies of each of the four flights, of the two towers, of the first responders, even of the terrorist conspiracy.  They included phone conversations of both survivors and the deceased with loved ones; communications between police, fire fighters and other first responders; FAA contacts with the four planes; and television coverage as events unfolded -- all presented with enormous sensitivity and respect.  There is no photography allowed in the Historical Exhibition, but I did find one poignant photograph from the exhibits on the internet.

Photo from Historical Exhibition of 9/11 Memorial Museum and National Geographic.

It really conveys the innocence and bravery of first responders and the doggedness and calm of the survivors.

You leave the Historical Exhibition in the footprint of the North Tower emotionally numb.  The Foundation Hall is a place of recovery and contemplation after reliving whatever memories of 9/11 have been dredged back to the surface.  It is a lofty and spacious space that speaks of endurance and rebuilding; and of those who returned day after day to the site to clear the debris of terrorism and make way for the brighter future to come.

'The Last Column' juxtaposed against the 'Slurry Wall' in Foundation Hall.
Photo by McClure

One long wall of Foundation Hall is formed by the 70-foot-high 'slurry wall' that endured the attack and withstood the potential inundation of the site.  A centerpiece is the 'Last Column' which was the final piece of the old structures removed from the site -- signed by groups and individuals who worked on the clearance of the debris from the attacks.

Rising back out of the the Foundation Hall to the light of day and the bustle of rebuilding is welcome.

Four WTC reflecting the afternoon sky.  Photo by McClure

And the roar of the waterfalls crashing into the Memorial Pools somehow washes away the sense of helplessness in the face of evil.

Waterfalls in the South Memorial Pool.  Photo by McClure