MANILA, Philippines – Who is the American-Israeli architect who’s the youngest one working on the Ground Zero project with his Reflecting Absence World Trade Center Memorial?
He was born in 1969 in London where his father, a former Israeli ambassador to the US and Mexico, was on a diplomatic mission. He lived in Jerusalem for nine years, and did his military service in the Golani Brigade commando unit.
He received a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and a master’s degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology’s College of Architecture. Moving to New York City in 1999, he worked as an architect at Kohn Pederson Fox for three years, where he was on the design teams that worked on Union Station Tower, a 109-story Hong Kong skyscraper, and Espirito Santo Plaza, a 37-story tower in Miami that won the New York Institute of Architects Award in 2001.
When he submitted his design to the competition for the World Trade Center Memorial, he was working for the New York Housing Authority, designing police stations for the New York City Police Department.
He was selected from 5,201 competitors as the winning designer of the World Trade Center Memorial with Reflecting Absence — a pair of pools set 30 feet deep in the footprints of the downed towers, with cascading waterfalls surrounded by the names of the departed. The design also includes areas at bedrock level where the public can mourn and family members of the victims can grieve in private, a space for 9/11relics and a “living park” at ground level meant to symbolize life and rebirth.
At street level, with the help of landscape architect Peter Walker, he proposed a cobblestone plaza with moss and grass and planted with Easter white pine trees.
“As they descend, visitors are removed from the sights and sounds of the city and are immersed in cool darkness,” he says. “As they proceed, the sound of water falling grows louder and more daylight filters in from below. At the bottom they find themselves behind a curtain of water, staring out at an enormous pool, which is surrounded by a continuous ribbon of names. The enormity of the space and the multitude of names that form this endless ribbon underscore the vast scope of the destruction.”
Reflecting Absence makes the voids left by the destruction the primary symbols of our loss. “It is a memorial that expresses both the incalculable loss of life and its consoling renewal, a place where all of us come together to remember from generation to generation. Reflecting Absence is strong, beautiful, and moving. The memorial plaza is designed to be a meditating space,” he says. “It encourages use by New Yorkers on a daily basis. The memorial grounds will not be isolated from the rest of the city; they will be a living part of it. “
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Last week’s question: Who is the well-known Japanese chef known for his unique take on Japanese fusion cuisine as well as for the expression “Action!” on the program Iron Chef?
Answer: Masaharu Morimoto
Winner: Jeanette Calleja of Diliman, Q.C.
Text your answer to 0905-3142614 with your name and address. One winner will be chosen through a raffle of texts with the correct answer. The winner will receive P2,000 worth of SM gift certificates for use at Our Home, SM Department Store, or SM Supermarket. They can claim their prize at Our Home in SM Megamall. Call the store manager at 634-1950, 634-1943. Bring photocopies of two valid IDs and a clipping of the Design Quiz issue in which you appear as winner.