Flight 93 National Memorial: Encyclopedia II - Flight 93 National Memorial - Design competition

Flight 93 National Memorial - Design competition

Flight 93 National Memorial - Initial design selection

The commission decided to select the final design for the memorial through a multi-stage design competition funded by grants from the Heinz Foundations and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The competition began on September 11, 2004, and over one thousand entries were submitted. In February of 2005, five finalists were selected for further development and consideration. The jury selecting the final design included 15 members and was comprised of family members, design and art professionals, and community and national leaders. Over a three day review period they selected the winning design, and announced it on September 7, 2005. The design entitled Crescent of Embrace by a design team led by Paul and Milena Murdoch of Los Angeles was chosen.

The design featured a "Tower of Voices," containing 40 wind chimes — one for each passenger and crew member who died. It also consisted of two stands of red maple trees to line a walkway following the natural bowl shape of the land. Forty separate groves of red and sugar maples were to be planted behind the crescent, and eastern white oak trees for each victim of the September 11 attacks. A black slate wall would mark the edge of the crash site, where the remains of those who died now rest.

Flight 93 National Memorial - Controversy

During their deliberations, the use of the term crescent, did come up. It was raised in the written comments of one person — out of 400 — who viewed the five finalists on display. In addition, Tom Burnett Sr., whose son (Tom Burnett) died in the crash, said he made an impassioned speech to his fellow jurors about what he felt the crescent represented. "I explained this goes back centuries as an old-time Islamic symbol," Burnett said. "I told them we'd be a laughing stock if we did this." [1]

This design choice initially created controversy because the terrorists who hijacked the airplane were Muslim and conducted the attacks in the name of Islam. The crescent is a generally recognized symbol of Islam and the Red Crescent is used as the Islamic equivalent of the Red Cross. The crescent is also represented on a number of flags of countries with Muslim majorities, including Pakistan.

The winning design's crescent is also oriented toward Mecca. While the Belmont Club's Richard Fernandez noted that this may just be a coincidence he went on to note: "But what a coincidence! Memorials are symbols above all and it may be inappropriate to commemorate Flight 93 with a Red Crescent facing Mecca." [2]

The architect asserts that this is coincidental and there is no intent on referencing Muslim symbols. This sentiment has been shared by several victims families as well, such as the family of Edward Felt. Representative Tom Tancredo of Colorado has opposed the design's shape "because of the crescent's prominent use as a symbol in Islam." The Council on American-Islamic Relations has denounced criticism as Islamophobic. [3]

James Lileks, a journalist and architectural commentator, noted in regard to the winning design: "We don't need giant statues of the guys ramming the drink cart into door. But pedantic though such a monument might be, future generations would infer the plot. All you get from a Crescent of Embrace is a sorrowful sigh of all-encompassing grief and absolution, as if the lives of all who died on that spot were equal in tragedy. They were not." [4]

Mike Rosen of the Rocky Mountain News wrote: "On the anniversaries of 9/11, it's not hard to visualize al-Qaeda celebrating the crescent of maple trees, turning red in the fall, "embracing" the Flight 93 crash site. To them, it would be a memorial to their fallen martyrs. Why invite that? Just come up with a different design that eliminates the double meaning and the dispute." [5]

Flight 93 National Memorial - Design modifications

In response to criticism the designer has agreed to modify the plan. The architect believes that the central elements can be maintained to satisfy criticism. "It's a disappointment there is a misinterpretation and a simplistic distortion of this, but if that is a public concern, then that is something we will look to resolve in a way that keeps the essential qualities," Murdoch, 48, said in a telephone interview to the Associated Press. [6]

The redesigned memorial has the plan shape of a circle (as opposed to a crescent) bisected by the flight's trajectory. "The circle enhances the earlier design by putting more emphasis on the crash site, officials said in the newsletter. A break in the trees will symbolize the path the plane took as it crashed." [7]

There is still a contention that the crescent shape remains, even in the redesigned memorial. [8] There is also a contention that 44 translucent blocks are placed on the site to represent all the dead (including the terrorists) and not just the 40 passengers and crew. [9]

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Design competition", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki