The lighting master plan as drawn by Fisher Marantz Stone.
Fisher Marantz Stone
Initially, city officials wanted the plaza to meet a minimum of …
Initially, city officials wanted the plaza to meet a minimum of 5 footcandles per square foot. However, after extensive study and site visits to other parks throughout the city, the lighting design team was able to show, based on their collected data, that this amount was excessive and that 0.5 footcandles would provide enough illumination.
Fisher Marantz Stone
The landscape design includes more than 400 white oak trees acro…
The landscape design includes more than 400 white oak trees across the site. Square light columns, each standing just over 16 feet tall, incorporate security cameras and radio antennas along with the lighting element at the top: prismatic refractors with four 4-foot-long T8 lamps.
Fisher Marantz Stone
The two 200-foot-square reflecting pools mark the original footp…
The two 200-foot-square reflecting pools mark the original footprints of the towers. Each pool features a 30-foot cascading waterfall on every side, illuminated by a custom-designed submersible fixture. A bronze parapet wall inscribed with the names of the victims rings the reflecting pools.
Fisher Marantz Stone
Narrow-profile 3500K LED luminaires backlight the names of the v…
Narrow-profile 3500K LED luminaires backlight the names of the victims.
Fisher Marantz Stone
For the parapet lighting, several full-scale working mock-ups he…
For the parapet lighting, several full-scale working mock-ups helped to determine the positioning between the lamp and the reflector for optimum angle and performance within the specific shape of the parapet enclosure.
Caridad Sola Studio
One of the project’s technical achievements is the lighting of…
One of the project’s technical achievements is the lighting of the waterfalls. The relevant National Electric Code dictated that a submersible fixture run on 25V or less. In 2005, when the project began, the only option for a luminaire of this kind was with low-voltage incandescent or halogen sources. From a long-term maintenance perspective this was not an option.
Caridad Sola Studio
Instead, the designers, Fisher Marantz Stone, worked closely wit…
Instead, the designers, Fisher Marantz Stone, worked closely with Winona Lighting to develop a submersible fixture using LEDs (still an immature technology at the time) that would meet the project’s technical requirements. The result was a 24V-fixture with an internal water-cooling technology. 1,500 linear feet of fixtures are mounted beneath the waterfall at the base of each pool.
Caridad Sola Studio
A view of the north tower reflecting pool with the National Sept…
A view of the north tower reflecting pool with the National September 11 Museum in the background.
The 16-acre site in lower Manhattan known as ground zero is arguably the most emotionally charged site of our time. It is the location of the Sept. 11, 2001, and Feb. 26, 1993, terrorist attacks, where 2,984 people lost their lives. Creating a commemoration that recognizes all the victims at the World Trade Center site, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pa., where flight 93 crashed, has been an important part of the rebuilding efforts.
The lighting design employs just three fixtures—light columns on the plaza, a submersible LED luminaire at the waterfalls, and an LED striplight to backlight the names on the parapets—and each of them responds to challenging design, maintenance, and public-safety criteria, while breaking new ground technologically.
One of these technical achievements occurs at the central feature of the memorial’s design, the two reflecting pools, each measuring 200 by 200 feet. The technical challenge here was how to create something that would be bright enough and withstand the constant volume of water from the 30-foot cascading waterfall. The code dictated that a submersible fixture run on 25V or less, but no such luminaire existed. FMS worked with Winona Lighting who developed a water-cooled fixture to meet all the conditions.
Lighting plays a key role in realizing the memorial’s design and in creating a place for healing and renewal. And during that process, design pushed technology to new bounds.
Jury Comments: The project shows the perfect amount of restraint and makes a very complex set of project criteria and conditions appear straightforward. • The development of the specialty luminaire at the waterfalls is impressive.
Details
Client: National September 11 Memorial and Museum
Architect: Michael Arad, New York
Landscape Architect: PWP Landscape Architecture, Berkeley, Calif.
Lighting Designer: Fisher Marantz Stone, New York
Photographers: Caridad Sola Studio (bottom left); the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (far right); Fisher Marantz Stone (top left)
Project Size: 16 acres (entire site)
Project Cost: $110 million
Watts per Square Foot: 0.5
Manufacturers: Selux, Winona Lighting (Acuity Brands)
Elizabeth Donoff is Editor-at-Large of Architectural Lighting (AL). She served as Editor-in-Chief from 2006 to 2017. She joined the editorial team in 2003 and is a leading voice in the lighting community speaking at industry events such as Lightfair and the International Association of Lighting Designers Annual Enlighten Conference, and has twice served as a judge for the Illuminating Engineering Society New York City Section’s (IESNYC) Lumen Award program. In 2009, she received the Brilliance Award from the IESNYC for dedicated service and contribution to the New York City lighting community. Over the past 11 years, under her editorial direction, Architectural Lighting has received a number of prestigious B2B journalism awards. In 2017, Architectural Lighting was a Top Ten Finalist for Magazine of the Year from the American Society of Business Publication Editors' AZBEE Awards. In 2016, Donoff received the Jesse H. Neal Award for her Editor’s Comments in the category of Best Commentary/Blog, and in 2015, AL received a Jesse H. Neal Award for Best Media Brand (Overall Editorial Excellence).Prior to her entry into design journalism, Donoff worked in New York City architectural offices including FXFowle where she was part of the project teams for the Reuters Building at Three Times Square and the New York Times Headquarters. She is a graduate of Bates College in Lewiston, Me., and she earned her Master of Architecture degree from the School of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis.
