World Citizen
Center
New York, NY
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A proposal for a place of recollection, exchange, and renewal. ​
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Things change continuously at a frequency and rate that are generally comprehensible, intellectually and emotionally. Sometimes things change so radically in unexpected ways there is no possibility of returning to our original position.
This can be a positive thing. Tragedy brings us closer together at all scales of society. Our collective survival instinct is a great social equalizer, at least for a while. This time, however, things can be different.
People are now talking to friends and strangers about how they feel and what they think. The full spectrum of emotions mixes with a broad range of intelligence to discuss and debate a most fundamental aspect of our existence: the line that separates humanity from inhumanity. This must continue indefinitely, and Ground Zero / New York City should be the place.
At the invitation of the Max Protech gallery, we developed this scheme.
The site of the World Trade Center has become the newest member of an exclusive set of places that are permanent records of a tragic human event of great magnitude.
Our proposal is for a place of recollection, exchange, either in solitude or community. On the day 9.11 and time 8:41 am, thousands will gather. The precise time will be marked by an 'eternal flame' (sun) filling an aperture in one of the buildings.
There will be four tenant groups in the innermost layer of the new buildings, a World Citizens Conference Center to be accessible to everyone for:
1 Learning and teaching through formal and informal exchange formats
2 Conflict resolution
3 A World Conference of Religion and Wisdom traditions and world organizations working on Humanitarian issues
4 Commercial service organizations that facilitate global humanitarian work
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In our proposal, the site of the towers is marked with the green meadows of equal size to the building footprints. They are at city grade and are held up by 2000 columns memorializing those who were lost, so that people may walk among them.
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The WTC will not be rebuilt but an equivalent amount of floor space and building mass will be reconstructed in the surrounding blocks. The new buildings will surround the ground zero site, shaped as a coherent elliptical volume, a kind of 'Orphic Egg' which will be left open.
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In contemplating the aerial photography of the damage and incomprehensible human loss, we become aware of the form of an upturned palm in the image of the now-blurred street grid and diagonals forming its lined topography.
