After changing the location twice to accommodate the many who were standing without a seat, students, professors and Upper Valley residents packed a large lecture hall in Silsby to hear a presentation by architect Michael Arad '91, whose design was chosen for the World Trade Center Memorial.
Arad's design, titled "Reflecting Absence," was selected as the winner of the largest international architectural competition in history in early January. Architects submitted 5,201 entries from 63 nations and 49 states.
The design involves a pool of flowing water with two sunken square outlines of the towers creating a solemn dark void in the center. The pool is viewed through a falling curtain of water which defines a visitor's walkway wrapping around the pool. Arad chose the "wall of water" because it "will be sheltering, but will not obscure the view," he said. He also mentioned the importance of how light reflected off the water, saying that "using concrete and light together as the palette is the basis for the memorial."
Of paramount importance for the memorial, the names of those who died in the tragedy will be listed in random order along the walkway which overlooks the pool.
It was Arad's desire to list the names in such a fashion because he believes that an alphabetical listing would "inappropriately suggest an order" to the catastrophic events and confusion of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Arad not only explained the final design which was ultimately selected in the competition, but carefully traced its evolution. The design started from eclectic early inspirations such as old quarries in New Jersey, highways in Georgia, the work of architect Louis Khan, and landscaping in various parks. Changes were made along the way in an effort to accommodate input from friends or competition jurors.
The elements he synthesized into his plan for the memorial, from the abstract design concepts to the choice of materials were all thoughtfully selected with a remarkable sensitivity toward how the memorial would be experienced, always keeping in mind the emotions of family members of the deceased and others who would be visiting the site.
Of the thousands of competition entrants from all over the world, perhaps it is no coincidence that Arad, a resident of New York City who worked as an architect for the New York Port Authority and who was there to experience the events of Sept. 11 would have designed the winning entry.
The presentation was thorough, skipping over few steps of the design process.
Arad showed slides of himself and a fatigued team of assistants working arduously at all hours of the day and night to construct a model of the plan.
He mentioned various friends and firms whom he collaborated with for presentation renderings and a short animation, and even talked about phone calls made to old professors.
Even after winning the competition, he has been kept busy working with teams of engineers and architects to translate his design and model into the working drawings needed to build the memorial.
Arad was invited to campus by the Leslie Center for the Humanities at Dartmouth. He majored in government, but said he always knew that he wanted to become an architect.
