WTC memorial

Eight finalists have been revealed in the competition to design a permanent memorial at the site of the World Trade Center.

Personally I think Reflecting Absence is the most appropriate, but prefer the design of the Memorial Cloud.

Unfortunately the whole thing is spoiled for me by the descriptive passages accompanying each submission…

For example – from the Memorial Cloud submission:
“Our design is guided by our respect for the sacred ground. Accordingly, we limit the cloud to touching the ground for support on only five points; we judiciously open the earth beneath the World Trade Center Tower footprints only to provide visitors access to the symbolic “bedrock” level, creating thereby a processional passage of light and subterranean darkness. The procession that carries visitors beside the repository for the “unidentified remains” connects both footprints with the channel along the exposed slurry wall.”

Or – from the Lower Waters submission:
“Our physical movement throughout the site, the inclined park and the various levels of memorial and museum, represents our emotional movement through the experiences of memory, grief, discovery, hope, and rebirth.”

Suggestion: why not leave the site as it is, surely that is the most provocative message of them all.