The WTC Site: A look ahead

For most New Yorkers the current World Trade Center site generates a stream of complex emotions. Anger, Fear, Sadness, and mostly a strange nostalgia for the days when the the world wasn't divided into 'before' and 'after' 9/11.

Today - the WTC site has a lot of construction activity - but at least so far its all below or at ground level... which means that what is actually going on has remained somewhat of a mystery. The open question hanging over the site, how will New Yorkers feel when that empty piece of sky and ground is replaced with actual architecture and stone, and steal, and water and trees.

Well, the first answers to that question were unveiled at The Center for Architecture last night.

The occasion was the opening of the exhibit "A Space Within: The National September 11th Memorial and Museum."

And based on the size of the turn out, and the long serious looks that the exhibit engaged in its audience - New York is anxious... even hungry for the remembrance and rebirth of the site.

Here's a video that gives visitors to the Center for Architecture exhibit a first look what the site will look like:

and Here are some photographs from the opening of the exhibit.

Here's the public description of the event:

CalendarofEvents

Thu 06.25.2009
Exhibition Opening: A Space Within:The National September 11 Memorial & Museum

When: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM THURSDAY, JUNE 25

Where: At The Center

On September 11th, 2001, what had been one of the world's most densely developed business districts became, for many, hallowed ground. Soon after, questions emerged. What comes next? How could one site serve the needs of victims' families, survivors of the attacks, members of the surrounding communities, business interests, and visitors?

The answer required a clear separation of the sacred and the secular; a defined, eight-acre space, serving as a tribute, would be created within the larger development. A Space Within is a public showcase of the memorial and museum that are now taking shape at the heart of the World Trade Center site.

RSVP

Exhibition and related programs are organized by the AIA New York Chapter in partnership with the Center for Architecture Foundation and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

Memorial design by Michael Arad and Peter Walker
Museum design by Davis Brody Bond Aedas
Museum pavilion design by Snohetta

Exhibition curator: Thomas Mellins
Exhibition design: Incorporated Architecture & Design

Partner:
National September 11 Memorial & Museum

Lead Sponsors:
Digital Plus
Faithful+Gould
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

Sponsor:
Associated Fabrication

Supporters:
Adamson Associates
Fisher Marantz Stone
Guy Nordenson and Associates Structural Engineers
Horizon Engineering Associates
Langan Engineering & Environmental Services
Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers
Simpson Gumpertz & Heger
Snøhetta
Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates
WSP Cantor Seinuk

Media Consultant:
C.C. Sullivan

Event website: http://cfa.aiany.org/index.php?section=exhibitions

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Comments

[slg]

The falls inside the footprints. Pure Genius!