Flight 93 Memorial | Competition

The “Human Spirit” is man’s presence and interaction physically, mentally, and spiritually with the built environment. Therefore, it is our occupation and movement through the environment which creates a place and in turn a memory.

On September 11, 2001, United Flight 93 with 40 passengers and crew was hijacked. Instead of allowing the hijackers to fly the airplane into the Capital Building where Congress was in session, they fought back, and at 10:06 a.m crashed into an open field in Somerset, Pennsylvania.

Following this horrible day, the site became a temporary memorial enclosed by a fence, where visitors could leave mementos to those we have lost. This proposed design wanted to build upon those memories rather than try to replace them.

A rift in time is represented by the flight path on which the memorial entry, archives, and our view to the crash site are oriented. The approach to the memorial is organized in such a way that we move from the profane world of the national park to the sacred world of the memorial. As we draw closer to the stone wall the path narrows. While walking uphill, the sound of our footsteps becomes more quiet as we move from gravel to grass. The worn grass tells the story of all those who have come before, and the engraved wall tells the story of the events unfolding on the day of the crash.

The ritual of entry is a transitional and contemplative experience. Here, our transition from the public to the private is marked by a stone wall. As we move from the archives to the viewing platform our senses become more attuned to our environment when wood floors turn to carpet, bright spaces get darker, and bustling sounds quiet to a whisper.

Finally, from the viewing platform we see the crash site in the distance marked by the American flag set in a window of heroes. This window is made up of all the faces of those who in a matter of hours went from ordinary mothers, fathers, daughters, and sons to those who fought for others’ lives and became heroes.