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.
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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).
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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.
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