Creating for the Ages
DC 37 member wins worldwide design competition for the WTC Memorial.
NEW YORK CITY
There were 5,201 submissions from 63 countries. In the end, a public employee — and AFSCME member — from the Big Apple emerged as the winner.
On Jan. 14, in front of a throng of media reps and high-level bigwigs, Michael Arad unveiled his winning design — Reflecting Absence — for the World Trade Center Memorial site. Arad, an assistant architect in the New York City Housing Authority and a member of Local 375 (DC 37), said that his inspiration for the monument came straight from having witnessed the unforgettable collapse of the Twin Towers on that fateful September day.
From his apartment rooftop, Arad watched the second plane strike. That triggered a race downtown in search of his wife, Melanie, who works near Wall Street. He found her, and together they saw the second tower crumple — a sight he recalls as a "terrifying moment."
Six months later, Arad thought about a memorial to be built — on the Hudson River. "Just being in New York at that period was very difficult because there was a lot of sadness," he remembers. "I started thinking about what type of memorial would relate to the events and my understanding of what happened." Before the competition for the WTC Memorial was even announced, he developed his first model.
When the 13-member panel named him as one of the finalists, it suggested that he modify a few aspects of the design. So Arad handpicked landscape architect Peter Walker from San Francisco. Their joint design won.
Its design highlights include two reflecting pools, obscured by trees, which will be installed where the Twin Towers once stood. Beneath the plaza — out of sight from public view — are corridors that house artifacts and some remains.
Said Mayor Michael Bloomberg as he viewed the monument model at the January ceremony, "Memorials should leave room to imagine. This design, in a simple and eloquent way, has done that."
Arad, a 34-year-old citizen of Israel, grew up there and in Mexico and the United States. Since completing a brief stint in the Israeli Defense Force in 1991, he's been living in the states. He has a master's degree from Georgia Tech's College of Architecture. At the Housing Authority's design department, his duties included managing the development of police stations in Brooklyn and the Bronx.
Arad is currently on unpaid leave of absence while he works as a consultant with the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. That group was created after 9/11 to rebuild the damaged part of New York's financial district. His particular project bears an initial price of $175 million.
Notes the soft-spoken architect: "I hope that I can live up to everyone's expectations because it's a tremendous challenge."
