The eight finalists for the memorial design for the World trade center.

That "Passages of Light" seems pretty bad ass

 

I always liked this one, but it didn't make the finalist list....

http://www.fredbernstein.com/page2.html


"From the seawall in Battery Park, in front of Castle Clinton:
Two piers project out into New York Harbor. The piers are the precise size of the World Trade Center towers. Each is 212 feet wide. One is 1368 feet long, and points toward the Statue of Liberty, the symbol of our freedom. The other is 1362 feet long, and points toward Ellis Island, the symbol of our pluralism.
Each pier is divided into 110 "floors" (with a horizontal band every 12 feet). Visitors walk out onto the first pier, representing Tower 1. As they pass over each floor, they encounter the story of what happened on that floor, including names of victims. Inevitably, as the "higher" floors are reached, the lists of victims become longer. The experience is repeated on the second pier, representing Tower 2. Names of uniformed personnel who died on 9/11 will be inscribed in prominent locations."

It seemed like a good way to remind us of the scale of the buildings....

 

I've always thought it would be the ultimate slap in the face to the people who did this if we rebuilt the towers just like they were before except with one more floor.

I know it's very unrealistic, but it would show everyone that we're not afraid.

 

1. Lower Waters


This entry contains an inclined park that slopes from street level to 30 feet below. It includes a garden within the south tower footprints and a structure at the north tower footprints with a water staircase and the unidentified remains of the victims.

It also has a museum dedicated to the Sept. 11, 2001, tragedy with access to the slurry wall and bedrock at the north tower footprints. Victims’ names are listed in alphabetical order on walls that encircle the park.

2. Passages of Light


This entry includes an open-air structure with cathedral-like vaults and a glass walkway overhead, that is, the cloud.

The cloud includes thousands of lights that illuminate engraved names of the victims. It groups the rescuers’ names separately in a ribbon that runs through the rest of the victims’ names. The victims’ names are listed according to the location where they died. The footprints are left vacant as two grassy fields.
________
The others don't do much for me.

 

I prefer Suspending Memory most, and Inversion of Light second. I think each of those, particularly the first is the kind of thing which most becomes a city landmark.