Nearly 28 months after the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, a memorial has been chosen in remembrance of those lost.
The design, dubbed "Reflecting Absence," was selected by a 14-member jury that included former Penn Provost Vartan Gregorian and Architecture Professor Enrique Norten.
The structure features reflective twin pools where the World Trade Center once stood. The pools, which are fed by a constant water supply, contain two large voids symbolizing loss.
"While these voids still remain empty and inconsolable, the surrounding plaza's design has evolved to include teeming groves of trees, traditional affirmations of life and rebirth," said Gregorian, jury chair and president of Carnegie Corporation of New York, in a press release.
"The result is a memorial that expresses both the incalculable loss of life and its regeneration."
By November, the jury had narrowed the design pool to eight finalists. Among them was Michael Arad and Peter Walker's Reflecting Absence, which jurors agreed upon after months of deliberation.
"I am very honored and overwhelmed by the news that the jury has selected my design," Arad said in a press release following the announcement. "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."
To access the memorial, visitors descend a sloped building, with increasing daylight filtering in toward the inner chamber. At the end of this path lie the reflective pools, with the names of all 9/11 victims etched randomly on the floor of the large expanse.
In a tunnel between the pools, visitors may also light a candle before ascending a similar sloped building back to street level.
"Not only does this memorial creatively address its mandate to preserve the footprints, recognize individual victims and provide access to bedrock," Gregorian said in the same press release, "but it also wonderfully reconnects this site to the fabric of its urban community."
After design revisions are made, Reflecting Absence will be revealed in a public presentation next week.
Gregorian served as the provost of the University between 1978 and 1980. Prior to assuming his current position at Carnegie, he served for nine years as president of Brown University.
