[design] WTC Memorial 1, Cosmic Mound

[pro-bono publico 9/11 memorial and WTC site plan...
a few more dwgs. interiors of Memorial 2 later on.
possibly stairs, landscape, art, or sculpture too.]


WTC Memorial 1, Cosmic Mound

during the process of developing plans for the current
WTC site, the idea of an empty park was brought up, in
addition to an earth mound or gently sloping landscape.

if a WTC Memorial Park were developed above ground this
design element could serve many purposes, both internal
and external. the symbolism of a conic mound topped by
the WTC memorial ruin of the building facade would be
the symbolic peak of such a conical pyramid structure.

the archaeological aspect of such a mound would imply
inherent meaning as to what takes shape inside the zone
in which the mound defines itself. in the sketches below
a mound of boulders and formwork-cast concrete crystals,
geodes, and geological tectonic plates would be bursting
from the lowest levels of the exterior site, erupting
from the base as a type of energy which this mound is
emerging from. pathways, as if a mountain were forming,
allow closer inspection of the boulders and giant forms,
as a passageway to enter the park several stories above.


JPEG image


* formations may enhance acropolis aspect of site plan.

the artificial concrete forms and boulders working together
as a structure are mirrored inside the vast volume of the
WTC Memorial Park, which also develops inside. a concrete
dome created by the pyramid cone would form a zone inside
related to the symbolic mound outside upon experiencing
the inner realm and seeing and feeling the continuum of
boulders and concrete geodes opening up into a giant dome
with an oculus under the WTC facade ruin at its peak, by
way of translucent material, e.g. fiber-optic concrete.

the undulating topography of the park is supported by a
customized space-frame structure which allows provides a
3 dimensional circulation scaffolding. such scaffolding
could help support and brace the (section) of the pyramid
mound and enable navigation around and through its shell.
for instance, exhibits could have certain artifacts and
other material on the outer wall of the mound, inside of
the main building below the park. people could move into
and out of the mound by way of scaffoldings on several
levels, which ultimately lead into and around the mound.

JPEG image



the mound itself would be reinforced concrete either faced
with boulders or an actual boulder pyramid held together by
concrete and rebar. the concrete geological elements would
combine the natural and artificial forces on the scale of
earth movements in relation to the site as a physical place,
that a giant event happened in this space and this is the
visible result which has had a mound now built upon it.

archaeological sites often find burial mounds and other
places of mass storage to be the richest discoveries for
understanding cultures and civilizations that have passed
beyond the present. peoples often placed many objects in
special places, accumulating energies in a belief of how
the cosmos function. in the same way, instead of arbitrary
placement of artifacts within a future WTC site, such an
approach would allow a meaningful location and appropriate
cosmic scale in which to place very large and significant
artifacts in relation to one another, in addition to more
manageable smaller artifacts. for instance, PATH subway
cars, an airplane wing and wheel assembly, and the fire
engines that survived the collapse could form key large-
scale artifacts for such a space, which could be seen as
one assemblage, each of the various parts seen in relation
to the others, in the same cosmic context, of huge scale,
and from many perspectives both near and far, to assist
in the sense of scale, context, and interrelationship of
meaning and symbolism in the various artifacts displayed.

once on the outside of the park, having experienced 'the
mound' from the inside, would further charge the symbolism
of the facade ruin as pinnacle of this space, and what is
underneath it is protected by this structure, literally
a structure which defines the 9/11 artifacts held together
as one event, of various forces which are the genesis of
the site, its landscape, architecture, and experience.
this is only a sketch of the idea of such a cosmic mound
that would be able to function, in section, as a continuum
between inside and outside, and inside and inside, with
symbolism, materials, forms, circulation, etc. an actual
cone pyramid would likely look very different than this
image, as it is to sketch a concept of how it functions
and fits together and not a specific style, imagery, etc.

Tumulus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burial_mounds
Silbury Hill http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silbury_Hill


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