In an empty field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, the heroic journey of Flight 93 ended. This memorial proposal consists of forty monuments that echo individual blades of grass blowing in the wind. They collectively join together to create a unified field. Organized alphabetically like a flight manifest, each memorial unit is dedicated to an individual hero. Through cladding, bending, and rotating the monuments are made unique, encoding elements of each hero’s life. Age is represented through the stainless steel cladding over the lower portion of the monuments. This leaves an unfinished, empty frame above that recognizes the lives cut short by the crash. The frames are bent in a weeping manner and rotated corresponding to the distance and direction of each person’s hometown. Placed in a grid based on the angle of Flight 93’s final descent and the intended flight path from Newark to San Francisco, the monuments form a collective field. Access to the memorial occurs within the approach scar. Cut through the topography of the landscape, this gash, visible from the sky, echoes the local mining tradition. As the final leg of the approach scar terminates it no longer cuts into the earth. Instead, it emerges from the ground as a platform to view the memorial - as if rising above the tragedy of September 11, 2001 to honor its heroes.

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Status: Competition