Architecture Blog

On December 7, 1941, Japanese planes surprised the U.S. at Pearl Harbor and unleashed an attack that would be known as the Date of Infamy. Now, only second to the World Trade Center attack, it was the worst day in U.S history. The USS Arizona received a direct hit and sank. As a result, 1,177 people lost their lives. Many of the bodies still remain in the sunken ship.

The memorial, which was dedicated in 1962, straddles the  USS Arizona but does touch it. The memorial is only accessible by shuttle boat which is operated by the National Park Service. The Memorial Visitor Center was opened in 1980 and on May 5, 1989 the sunken ship was declared a National Historic Landmark.

PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII (HI) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (USA) DoD photo by: PH3(AW/SW) JAYME PASTORIC, USN

The memorial was designed by Alfred Preis, a Honolulu architect. The United States Navy had given specific instructions to Preis that the memorial be like a bridge, floating above the ship, but not touching it. They also wanted the memorial to be able to accommodate 200 people.

The memorial structure is 184-foot long and has two peaks at each end connected by a sag in the center of the structure. The shape is meant to represent the peak of American pride before the attack, then the sudden sadness of the United States after the attack and then the rise of America again to new heights after the war.

Originally from [http://en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia]

Preis describes the architecture Arizona Memorial as, “Wherein the structure sags in the center but stands strong and vigorous at the ends, expresses initial defeat and ultimate victory … The overall effect is one of serenity. Overtones of sadness have been omitted to permit the individual to contemplate his own personal responses … his innermost feelings.”

They are located where the World Trade Center towers once stood. Their borders are in the exact footprint of the towers. Two pools of water with waterfalls. Over 200 swamp white oaks give the area life. The 3,000 names of the men, women, and children who were tragically killed in the attacks of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993 are inscribed in bronze on parapets. The memorial is called “Reflecting Absence”.

The Memorial is a national tribute to remember and honor the 2,983 people killed in on September 11, 2001, and February 26, 1993. The project is 10 years in the making, taking 5 years and 6 months to physically build. The two waterfalls are a reminder of the void. The water falls 30 feet into a pool and runs into a smaller void where it then disappears.

Michael Arad, the architect and mind behind the project, explains, “There was a rupture of time. Despite the passage of time, this void is not filling up, it remains empty and that absence remains clear and visible.”

The architecture of the memorial and surrounding area is impressive. 1 WTC also known as Freedom Tower stands 105 stories. It is the tallest building in the United States and one of the tallest in the world. With its radio antenna, it reaches 1,776 feet tall, representing the year of independence for America.

Also, the building Two World Trade Center, an 88-story skyscraper, was pulled back in shape from its original design to allow for the sun to shine on the memorial on September 11^th at exactly 8:50am.

There is a tree that stands at the Memorial as a sign of hope. It is a Callery Pear tree that was found crushed in the rubble of the World Trade Center collapse. With broken branches and a blackened trunk, no one gave the then eight foot tree much of a chance. It now stands 35 feet tall at the memorial, symbolizing New York’s and the country’s strength and ability to overcome.