Artists Registry

Freedom Plaza
Proposal for WTC Memorial
Scott Koen
2002

At the center of the proposed memorial is a sculpture of the North American Bald Eagle, the symbol of our nation. The statue stands 150 feet tall with a wing span of 370 feet. The eagle’s face shows determination and resolve, representing America’s response to the attack.

Underneath the eagle is a star-shaped plaza containing memorials for each of the victims. Each individual is represented in the plaza with a Remembrance: a 7 foot tall, 40-inch wide, 3-inch thick piece of glass. Embedded in the glass is an image of the victim, surrounded by a written tribute and any other pictures or artifacts their family would want included. Each Remembrance is double-sided with a 40-inch gap between them, allowing viewing from either side.

At the center of the star are two square towers made from pieces of the World Trade Center’s exterior. They rise up, fuse into and become the legs of the eagle. Immediately surrounding the towers are the Remembrances for the first responders. With no gap between them, these Remembrances form a wall of protection around the towers.

Around the outside of the star is a circle containing the flags of all nations that lost a citizen in the attacks. At the outside edge of the memorial are 6 tiers of coliseum style seating with 5 entrances through them.

The Remembrances are designed to be movable, allowing their positions to be changed periodically to avoid individual Remembrances occupying places that might be considered more prominent than others (such as the point of each star).

The memorial would be positioned over the footprint of the original towers, and has a total diameter of 600 feet. As much as possible, all materials used in the construction would be recycled from the original buildings. The memorial would be visible from all streets heading into the Ground Zero area.

The subterranean area under the memorial would have many uses. Some possibilities are The World Trade Center Museum, The Museum of the City of New York, a Path and subway transportation hub or a rebuilt underground mall. The area is 490,000-sq. ft per floor with 6 levels that translates to 2,940,000 sq. ft of space.

The total area of the memorial is 8 acres. This allows for the rebuilding of 6 city blocks and the restoration of much of the original street grid.

Details
Remembrances
Each Remembrance is 3 sheets of 1-inch thick glass placed together. There is a life size image of the loved one sandblasted into the middle with their name and affiliation at the top. The center sheet of glass can be hollowed out to accommodate personal mementos, including photographs, letters, badges, even pieces of clothing or a treasured piece of jewelry. Lights in the bottom keep the image illuminated as well as warm to the touch. The Remembrances will include the victims from the Pentagon, Flights 11, 77, 93, 175, and from the Feb 26, 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Eagle
The eagle is similar to the Statue of Liberty in construction method. It is a steel frame clad with an aluminum exterior. Because of its unprecedented size the frame needs to be extremely strong to handle the wind, snow and ice. At the top of the shoulder there would be a hinge joint that would allow for the lowering of the wing tips during inclement weather with a locking system on the ground to hold the tips down. The Steel frame as well as the aluminum exterior would be made completely from metal recycled from Ground Zero.

Star Shaped Plaza
The top of the Star, as well as the head of the eagle, would be pointed due north. The center would be left open to accommodate the towers surrounded by the Remembrances of the first responders. The towers are two 50-foot squares made from the rubble of the buildings and are spaced 30 feet apart. The first responders would be in two rows and could be grouped together as companies, precincts or divisions. The outer lines would need breaks in them to accommodate visitors. Koening’s sculpture of the sphere will be placed in the middle under the eagle. Geographically that is where it was positioned before September 11th. The tips of the star are actually 5 separate triangles. They would have all the victims arranged to form a wall facing out from each respective side.

Additional Sculptures
The trapezoidal shape of the property allows room for additional sculptures outside the circle and as time passes more could be added.

Information Kiosk
At the 5 entrances there would be a interactive information kiosk that would display locations of individuals, company groups, or other categories such as place of national origin or state.

Opening Day
The memorial would be open only to the families and their guests on September 11th, 2005. At 8:44 AM there would be a memorial service and the role call of the names, as each name is read that Remembrance would be illuminated. There would be no assigned seating and the families would be encouraged to sit beside their loved ones remembrance during the ceremony. At 6:26 PM, when WTC #7 collapsed all the lights would be extinguished and remain out until 8:44 PM when the public ceremony would take place. The memorial would be closed to the public on the 11th of every month and only the families and their guests would be allowed inside