The World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition jury announced the winning design yesterday, choosing to construct "Reflecting Absence," the proposal of Dartmouth alumnus Michael Arad '91.
Arad's design was chosen as one of eight finalists, although it violated official contest rules by including a cultural building that blocked the memorial from the highway.
In a statement issued Tuesday, Arad said, "I am very honored and overwhelmed by the news that the jury has selected my design. I hope that I will be able to honor the memory of all those who perished, and create a place where we may all grieve and find meaning."
He added, "I will do my best to rise to the enormity of the task at hand. It is with great humility that I regard the challenges that lie ahead -- and it is with great hope that I will find the strength and ability to meet them."
The competition, sponsored by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, attracted 5,201 entries from around the world.
Arad's winning design proposes two pools submerged 30 feet underground in the footprints of the twin towers. Surrounding the pools is a list of victims' names. The pools are voids, Arad wrote in his statement to the contest, that serve as "visible reminders of the absence."
Visitors will be able to descend underground to view the pools from behind a constantly- feeding thin cascade of water. The subterranean level includes a room where visitors can light candles as well as a private chamber designated as "contemplative space" for family members, Arad wrote.
Above ground, pine trees will provide shade to the memorial plaza, which remains open to the city on three sides.
In his written statement, Arad explained that this part of the memorial "belongs both to the city and to the memorial," forming a "living part of the city."
The memorial site covers 4.7 acres over the former location of the World Trade Center. Five million people are expected to visit the memorial annually, according to the competition's guideline statement.
Studio Art professor John Wilson, who taught Arad in an architectural design course, noted that Arad's art "reflected work that was different from other Dartmouth students ... because of his background and exposure."
Arad was raised in Israel, the United States and Mexico. Wilson added that "Michael had been exposed to a situation in the Middle East where there were a lot of cultural and architectural influences."
The competition's mission was to produce a monument that will "remember and honor" the terrorist victims of Sept. 11, 2001 and of Feb. 26, 1993, when a truck bomb exploded in the World Trade Center, killing six and injuring thousands.
Although the LMDC originally projected that a winning design would be selected in October of this year, eight finalists had remained in contention until the decision yesterday.
Designs entitled "Garden of Lights" and "Passages of Light: Memorial Cloud" were considered strong candidates among the finalists.
"Garden of Lights" proposed an orchard above ground and a room of 2,982 "stars" underground, each of which shines on an altar that represents an individual victim.
"Passages of Light" proposed a translucent crystalline "cloud" above the site with circular, radiating lights representing each victim below it.
