Related Resource: Paying tribute to 9/11, seven years later
By Michael Frazier
Newsday
 AP Photo/National September 11 Memorial & Museum, Squared Design Lab View the photo collection of 9/11 memorials from around the nation |
NEW YORK — Detailed designs for the pavilion of the national Sept. 11 museum and memorial were revealed yesterday as the seventh anniversary of the 2001 terror attacks approaches.
The plan for the 47,500-square-foot pavilion, unveiled during a presentation at 7 World Trade Center, attempts to create a space where visitors can come to remember or forget, said Craig Dykers, co-founder of Oslo, Norway-based Snohetta, the designer.
The design, however, wasn’t the only aspect of the World Trade Center reconstruction effort that was highlighted. Pending the release Sept. 30 of a progress report on Ground Zero projects, talks shifted to the chronic construction delays affecting the museum and memorial and other major developments at the 16-acre site owned by the Port Authority.
“The national Sept. 11th memorial and museum has said consistently, and continues to believe, that it is both possible and essential for the memorial to be open for the public by the 10th anniversary of the attacks on 9/11, 2011,” said Joe Daniels, president of the memorial and museum.
The original completion date for the project was 2009. But in June, Port Authority executive director Chris Ward said in a progress report that the memorial and museum wouldn’t be completed by 2011.
Representatives of the Port Authority could not be reached for comment yesterday.
The foundation, chaired by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, has already raised more than $350 million for the project and awarded 80 percent of the contracts for construction, officials said.
“If the memorial can be open by 2011, we have the money to complete the memorial,” Daniels said. But if the project is delayed, it may run into budget problems, he said.
Dykers described the pavilion as part of a “string of pearls” in a cohesive plan of development. The glass and steel structure has a sloping roof with some sections reaching about 57 feet, while others measure 72 feet. It will be built on the east side of the site, dwarfed by the planned office towers and the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower.
Visitors walking into the pavilion will pass through an atrium, where two trident-shaped steel beams that were once part of the Twin Towers will stand on display. There will also be a private room for victims’ families and a 180-seat auditorium.
“Some people wish to remember. Some people wish to forget,” Dykers said. “We hope the building moves between those two worlds.”
The pavilion will serve as a gateway into the museum, which is primarily underground. Though Dykers assured there will be strict security at the building, some family members, like Sally Regenhard, who lost her firefighter son, Christian, 28, in the attacks, called it unsafe.
“Many family members that I know are deeply troubled by the underground design of this memorial complex and have expressed grave reservations regarding safety and egress in this facility,” said Regenhard, founder of the Skyscraper Safety Campaign.
The opening date of the memorial and museum is uncertain, but supporters hope to have a concrete date when the Port Authority releases its report.