This memorial, especially the pools, are stunning. It's really evident how much thought and care went in to creating this amazing public space. The area is quiet and feel secluded and once the canopy of the trees is fully grown in it will be a great space. Every detail from the lighting design to the stones and walkways are wonderfully cohesive and well thought out. The pools however are the most stunning part. Saving the foundations of the original WTC and re-using them in this manner is a humbling tribute to the original site. The black stone, water, and light all create solemnly beautiful memorial. The water itself was also expertly done, with each single stream of water carrying every detail of the wind, creating a living, breathing space that is as inspiring to its environment as reactive to it. This memorial is probably one of the single best in the US, and certainly outside of Washington.
The museum, however, is a stunning disappointment. It’s a distasteful behemoth that is plopped down on the middle of the site, with little care to fit into its surroundings, let alone be attractive it its own right. Its saving grace is the single glass corner with the exposed structure, which is a single moment of brilliance. Its too bad such a beautiful memorial is marred by this grey turd, or the architects couldn’t create a space that could fully match its surroundings.
Please excuse my tripod-less night photos.
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