The first steel installed on September 1st: credit Joe Woolhead

 Speaking from the top floor of 7 World Trade Center (WTC), Silverstein Properties gathered together Lower Manhattan officials on September 9th to present a redevelopment update.

Joined by Lower Manhattan Development Corporation Chairman Avi Schick and Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber, President and CEO Larry Silverstein and National 9/11 Memorial and Museum President Joe Daniels said that every effort is being made to open the memorial by the 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001.

They also unveiled new design details for the museum pavilion, which is being funded through a $80 million grant from New York state. The 40,000-square-foot, two-story pavilion will rise at the center of the WTC’s 16 acres as its own cultural attraction and serve as the primary entry to the underground memorial and plaza.

“The pavilion will be a beacon for the millions of visitors who are expected to come to the memorial and museum,” Daniels said. “Visitors will find this graceful building a welcoming structure that fits beautifully within the memorial plaza. The [original Twin Towers’] ‘tridents’ in the atrium will remind us to think back and look forward, and will complement the hundreds of trees which surround the two memorial pools.”

With a footprint of approximately 15,000 square feet, the pavilion will be home to WTC relics and exhibitions about the events of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993. Also inside the pavilion will be a 160-person auditorium, café, rest areas, ticketing, security screening, and a private room for use by family members of 9/11 victims.

The LMDC awarded international architecture firm Snøhetta the pavilion project in 2004.

“We have strived to design a building that welcomes the many new visitors to the site, as well as having an intriguing and ephemeral character for those who pass by it daily,” said Craig Dykers, Snøhetta co-founder, senior partner, and director. “It is discreet while maintaining an approachable intellectual presence among the many larger structures surrounding it.”

Memorial construction is now underway in the WTC’s southwest quadrant, with the first steel installed on September 1st.

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