The World Trade Center Memorial: Winning Designs

The competition to design a memorial honoring those who died in the terrorist attacks at the New York World Trade Center inspired an astonishing 5,201 proposals -- most from non-experts who desired to express their feelings about the losses. Now the entries have been whittled down to eight finalists. The winning design will be incorporated into the World Trade Center site plans by architect Daniel Libeskind.

The selected memorial designs include votive lights over a reflecting pool, an inclined park that would slope 30 feet below street level, a blue light shining up into the sky, and an open-air structure with a glass walkway. The finalists are:

• Votives in Suspension by Norman Lee and Michael Lewis

• Lower Waters by Bradley Campbell and Matthias Neumann

• Passages of Light: The Memorial Cloud by Gisela Baurmann, Sawad Brooks and Jonas Coersmeier

• Suspending Memory by Joseph Karadin with Hsin-Yi Wu

• Garden of Lights by Pierre David with Sean Corriel and Jessica Kmetovic

• Reflecting Absence: A Memorial at the World Trade Center Site by Michael Arad

• Dual Memory by Brian Strawn and Karla Sierralta

• Inversion of Light by Toshio Sasaki

Not on the list? The "Twin Piers" Memorial, conceived by architecture writer Fred Bernstein.

Bernstein's concept was eliminated from consideration on a technicality and, apparently, due to a mixup. Only one entry is permitted and Bernstein had two. Still, many are saying that the "Twin Piers" are too wonderful to pass up. Two piers would extend into New York Harbor the exact length of the destroyed Twin Towers: 1368 feet for Tower One and 1362 feet for Tower Two. Each pier would be divided into 110 "floors" inscribed with the story of what happened there and the names of those who died.

You can view Memorial designs by the eight finalists at the Winter Garden at the World Financial Center in New York City. The Winter Garden is open to the public from 7 am to 11 pm daily.

More About The World Trade Center Memorials

• Complete coverage with an audio slide show (NY Times)

• PHOTO GALLERY of the winning designs

• Twin Piers Illustrations

• The Twin Piers Controversy

• Commentary by Fred Bernstein

• Update: Architecture Critics Respond to the Designs
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