The Living Memorial

Nearly five years ago, millions of New Yorkers and countless people across the country were changed forever by the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. Since that tragedy, many of us in the ‘9/11 LIVING MEMORIAL SURVIVORS ORGANIZATION’ have worked diligently to educate, inform and inspire hope and healing in New York City, across the country and around the world.

Maybe, some have forgotten how hard it is to “move on” with their lives especially for the 2,792 families who lost their loved ones…we will ‘Never Forget’ you. But, for the thousands of Survivors who were in the complex that fateful morning, who made it out safely and for some, who now, struggle with their ‘new normal’, this LIVING MEMORIAL is for you.

Maybe, some have forgotten the heroic efforts of hundreds of First Responders, members of the Uniformed Services, like the PAPD, FDNY, NYPD, PARAMEDICS, COURT OFFICERS, etc. who ‘gave their all’ that fateful morning, later at Ground Zero and at the Fresh Kills site on Staten Island, this LIVING MEMORIAL is for you.

Maybe, some have forgotten the thousands of Civilians who lived and worked that fateful day, being in harms way, in close proximity of the collapse of the Twin Towers, this LIVING MEMORIAL is for you.

Maybe, some have forgotten the hundreds of City, State, and Federal employees, the architectural & engineering personnel and all the Construction workers, representing every trade in the business, where they all gave so much of their time, expertise and effort; 24/7 for days, weeks and some as long as 10 months for the Rescue, Recovery and Clean-up operations ‘up on the Pile’, ‘over at the barges’ or ‘down in the Pit’ in and around Ground Zero, this LIVING MEMORIAL is for you.

Maybe, some have forgotten all the Military Personnel who spent their time in Lower Manhattan, around Ground Zero and other parts of the city, helping out and providing security comfort level making us feel safe, this LIVING MEMORIAL is for you.

Maybe, some have forgotten the thousands upon thousands (* some have stated over 100,000 served) of the Volunteers who came from near and far, placing their ordinary lives on ‘pause’ and devoting countless hours in assisting and serving, wherever needed, whatever had to be done, this LIVING MEMORIAL is for you.

On the morning of September 11th, 2001, thousands of people were already inside the
‘TWIN TOWERS’ and the other five buildings, that made up the complex known as the WORLD TRADE CENTER. The following events occurred:
   At    8:46am    - American   Airlines   Flight    #11     struck   1WTC   (North Tower)
   At    9:02am    -United   Airlines    Flight   #175   struck    2WTC   (South Tower)
9:59AM   2WTC   collapsed
10:28AM   1WTC   collapsed
A SURVIVOR is defined as a person who continues to live or exist in spite of an event.

In order, that we will not be forgotten, a lasting tribute to everyone I mentioned above, you, as the ‘survivors’ will have this LIVING MEMORIAL, giving honor and respect, that you truly deserve.

This LIVING MEMORIAL is made up of three entities, each one complimenting one another: first, we have the MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN; second, we have 3-DIMENSIONAL HUMAN FIGURE SILHOUETTES. Seeing these two entities unifies the symbolic elements of that fateful day: the lasting image dedicated to the victims, the Fountain, and for honoring the survivors, the Silhouettes. Third, the Base of the MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN which will represent the strength and remembrance that holds us together in the spirit of this great city of New York.

This memorial could be a place where you, the survivors, can share your incredible stories of hope and survival, as First Person, and at the same time educate the people who will visit here and feel the powerful impact of the LIVING MEMORIAL.

It was Frank Lloyd Wright who once said, “Architecture is the relationship of visual and spatial perceptions to conceptual abstractions”. I wanted my design for this Memorial to capture and preserve what I saw, being there that fateful morning, and for all the feelings that stayed within me during my time at Ground Zero. Note: (I work for the City of New York- Department of Design & Construction, as a Project Manager.

This city agency, also known as DDC, oversaw and managed Ground Zero operations, where for 10 months; I was a Site Supervisor on the midnight to 8am shift, known to everyone who worked there and everyone I met, then and now, as ‘CHARLIE K.’ I’ve stood Honor Guard for DDC down in ‘THE PIT’ on the past four anniversaries; now, being amongst the family members and many of the survivors; gave me the visions, dramatic and somber, for the overall effect I wanted for this Memorial. The time I spent, as a private citizen, on this design, besides all the other ‘9/11’ designs that I was involved with, was extremely rewarding to me knowing I found that relationship that Wright was talking about.

A dedication plaque will be placed and located between the ‘MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN’ and the nearest ‘SILHOUETTE’. This plaque, symbolic on having the appearance of the façade of the lower floors of the Twin Towers - consisting of stainless steel ‘forks’ or ‘trees’ and glass, will be supporting another piece of glass above, lighted from within, with the following inscription etched into the glass, as seen below:

I’ll now describe the three entities in complete detail as depicted in my rendering below. As in all my designs that I have submitted relating to ‘9/11’, my use of symbolism in almost every aspect or detail was my way of offering remembrance, comfort, peace, hope, and resilience, so that we would ‘NEVER FORGET’.

A rendering showing: the 3-DIMENSIONAL HUMAN FIGURE SILHOUETTES, the MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN and the BASE of the FOUNTAIN among the visitors.

THE 3-DIMENSIONAL HUMAN FIGURE SILHOUETTES

There are twenty (20) 3-Dimensional Human Figure Silhouettes that will represent all the SURVIVORS, appearing as if they are standing still in awe of what had just occurred. (The number 20 represents 9/11 or 9+11). They will stand at various heights, from 4’-10” to 6’-3”, having widths from 24” to 36”, made of hollow metal and the depth or thickness to their sides is 4”. This 4” depth or thickness will be made of a ½”-1” thick, frosted-white glass, that will be lighted from within. This white glass, seen during the daylight hours, will then start to glow from dusk to dawn, being symbolic for the first line, inscribed (as seen in the drawing) on the dedication plaque,

“YE ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH”

NOTE: Last year, I attended the 10th Anniversary of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building at the Oklahoma City Memorial. It was on the eve of their anniversary a candlelight vigil was being held at the memorial, a beautiful and moving tribute, one, I will never forget. When the ceremony was over, I walked over to where the 168 ‘CHAIRS’, honoring their loss loved ones, were beginning to glow brighter into the night. I came upon two survivors standing by one of the ‘loss loved one’s chair’, talking to two (local) First Responders. When they saw me they stopped talking and just looked at me. We both stood there like statues in that light given off by the chairs. The feelings that I felt coming from them was going right back to them, for they knew I was from N.Y.C., a survivor of ‘9/11’ and that I had spent months at Ground Zero. It was as if, we were both reflecting back to that (our own) fateful day.

That moment, right then and there, manifested itself and gave me the ‘finishing touch’ that I’d been searching for to complete all the 3-DIMENSIONAL HUMAN FIGURE SILHOUETTES. I took that image and placed it in my heart and mind until I returned home. When I went back to my drawings, I noted that the entire front and back of the SILHOUETTES will be covered with a mirrored-like surface, so as you approach them and stand in front of them, you would be in awe of seeing your own reflection….as the survivor, just like I saw that night in Oklahoma City. I remember on that fateful morning on the corner of Church & Vesey, I saw two people in wheelchairs being pushed in such a hurry that I included two handicapped SILHOUETTES, one for a man and one for a woman. Each 3-DIMENSIONAL HUMAN FIGURE SILHOUETTE will have its own plaque, similar to the dedication plaque, identifying the honored survivor, on the upper portion of glass, such as: CIVILIAN FDNY CONSTRUCTION WORKER

(Note: Due to there were numerous Fireman and Policeman from other municipalities, a plaque will be noted as FIREMAN and POLICE OFFICER)

THE MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN

The height from the very top of the highest piece of this MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN down to the top of the BASE will be 9’-11”, symbolic for the date. The FOUNTAIN becomes an abstract collage of seven (7) frosted-white glass blocks, symbolizing the buildings that made up the World Trade Center complex. Two elongated blocks, like box beams, leaning in opposite directions, projecting outwards and upwards, are symbolic for the façade sections of 1WTC and 2WTC, they were left standing once all the dust settled. This vision, of what was left, stayed with us for months. When they no longer stood there, for many of us, we still carry that image in our hearts and minds. The five (5) remaining glass blocks are symbolic of 3WTC, 4WTC, 5WTC, 6WTC and 7WTC. The surface area, of the overall collage, on the top of the base lies within an 8’-6” square (8’-6” is equivalent to 102”), symbolizing the ‘102 minutes that shocked the world’.

The placement of these five blocks, their shapes and heights are symbolic of the buildings as they appeared prior to ‘9/11’. Only one of these blocks, the one representing 7WTC, which we all know, stood across Vesey Street, will be located almost in the center (when 7WTC collapsed-it was the last remaining building we saw of the WORLD TRADE CENTER) of the overall Fountain. This block will be capable of displaying a flow of water that will fill the top surface and then flow over and then down along it’s sides. All the glass blocks will be lighted from within, similar to the 3-DIMENSIONAL HUMAN FIGURE SILHOUETTES. They will glow, from dusk to dawn, symbolic for the second line inscribed on the dedication plaque,

“YE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD”

THE BASE of the MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN

The BASE dimensions for the MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN are very symbolic. The height is only 20.01” high, symbolic for the year 2001. The width is 9.59’ wide, symbolic for the time, 9:59am, when 2WTC collapsed. The length is 10.28’ long, symbolic for the time, 10:28am, when 1WTC collapsed. The water that we would see flowing down the sides of the block representing 7WTC, symbolically, could be interpreted as ‘tears of sadness’ for the loss of life and the memories of what once stood there or for the ‘tears of joy’……… knowing that, we survived. The water will end up on and into the BASE, be re-cycled to the top and continue again. I wanted this BASE to be made, consisting of the following eleven materials: concrete having pieces of stone, brick, wiring, marble, tin, assorted colored glass, steel, wood, paper and cloth. These materials

symbolize the composition of ash covering that I constantly walked on and that we all saw and walked through all over the site and much of Lower Manhattan, near Ground Zero. (Not Shown: A 20” wide flower bed, having assorted flowers for the seasons, will encircle the bottom tier of the BASE rep-resenting ‘the cyclical nature of healing and life’.)
This completes the details for the LIVING MEMORIAL, may it be a lasting beacon of hope, understanding and inspiration.

The following words are to be inscribed on the center section around the BASE:
“FOR THOSE WHO DID NOT SURVIVE THAT FATEFUL DAY,
WE THE SURVIVORS, WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER YOU,
FOR YOU LIVE WITHIN OUR HEARTS, FOREVER”

My time involved designing this ‘LIVING MEMORIAL’, stirred so many emotions, some over-whelming, due to the fond memories I have over the past 40 years of my life working in and around the World Trade Center.

I was there when they started excavation for the slurry wall in the late 60’s; returning home, July ‘70, from my tour of duty in Vietnam I actually flew over NYC and by the North Tower seeing it almost completed; my wife Margie and I visiting the observation deck in 1975 when it first opened; working for Merrill Lynch from 1978-1989 in One Liberty Plaza and having spent so much time (when I wasn’t traveling all over the USA) walking in and around the Plaza, down in the Concourse, sitting over by the Sphere enjoying the various entertainment during the summer and having to spend many weekends at 3WTC, the Vista Hotel, involved with the renovation/relocation for their move into their new world headquarters -World Financial Center; having an office on the 106th floor in the South Tower, having a spectacular view of the harbor and the Statue of Liberty working for Shearson Lehman; being there at 12:17pm on February 26, 1993 coming up the escalator by the Path trains and ……

later helping out afterwards in the North Tower, since I was working (for 3 ½ years) in the American Express World Headquarters in the WFC; and attended so many dinners, parties and functions at the Windows of the World over the years. All these fond memories flashed through my mind on that fateful morning when I arrived and stood on the corner of Vesey Street and Church Street at 9:06am, already late for a 8:30am breakfast meeting with an architect in the Concourse for a project I was about to start in 100 Church Street. The memories started to fade away at 10:29am. Then, these memories came back and constantly re-appeared over and over again in my head during the stillness each time I saluted a body bag being removed from the site…. until July 1st, 2002, my last day at Ground Zero.

If this MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN upon it’s BASE, could be placed some-where within ……THE WORLD TRADE CENTER MEMORIAL and possibly, by eliminating just one (1) of the two hundred (200) oak trees, that are planned to be planted there in the plaza….I believe, this would be a fitting tribute to remember what once stood there and “of what they saw and what they experienced would not fade with time”. And, if we could place these twenty (20) 3-DIMENSIONAL HUMAN FIGURE SILHOUETTES, spiraling in a counter-clockwise pattern, away from the MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN and placed throughout the plaza, where they can be approached by the visitors, I believe, it would leave a very symbolic tribute to “LIFE”, with an unspoken vow, from all the survivors to the loss loved ones………..

“I WAS THERE THEN, I AM HERE NOW”.