Thursday, 4:30 PM
Memorial will recall Logan as 9/11 'Point of Departure'
(Graphic courtesy of Moskow Architects)
The design for the Boston Logan Airport 9/11 Memorial was unveiled today.
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Correspondent, and Dominic Chavez, Globe Staff Photographer
The first two planes hijacked on Sept. 11, 2001 took off from Logan International Airport, setting in motion a chain of events that changed the world. This afternoon a crowd of about 50 looked on as Massport officials unveiled plans for a $3.5 million memorial that will commemorate Logan as the "Point of Departure."
Visitors entering the two-acre memorial will find two separate walkways diverging from the same spot, symbolizing that American Flight 11 and United Flight 175 both took off from Logan that morning. As the planes took different routes to the World Trade Center, the walkways each will offer a different path, winding through a grove of gingko trees.
The two walkways will converge at clearing in the trees where a two panel glass sculpture will stand 20-feet tall at a spot called the "Place of Remembrance." The names of the 164 passengers and crew who died on the planes will be etched in the glass.
Looking through the two glass panels in the sculpture, the sky will appear fractured through a prism, signifying the way the world changed that day. At night, the glass will be illuminated by a soft light.
"We saw the Airport 9/11 Memorial as an opportunity to give solace and hope to all those whose lives were forever changed on September 11," said Robert Linn, a partner at Boston-based Moskow Architects, which planned the project. "The design is intended to be both a timeless reminder of what has happened and a symbol of renewal."
The project, which will be funded by Massport, is expected to be completed in 2008.
The design was the product of a 13-member advisory committee that included representatives from family members of the victims, the airlines, Massport and the City of Boston. The memorial will be located near the Logan Hilton Hotel, the site of the Family Assistance Center set up by Massport to help families in the wake of the hijackings.
"Logan Airport and the lives of the people who work here were forever changed by the tragic events of 9/11," said Massport CEO Thomas J. Kinton Jr., in a written statement. "The Airport 9/11 Memorial will provide a place for the airport community to honor those who we have lost but never forgotten, and remember how the airport community came together in the days following 9/11."
