Award of Merit - Small Project

Staten Island September 11 Memorial

A $2 million memorial dedicated to Staten Island residents who lost their lives in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks turned out to be a noteworthy project on several levels, from its design to its construction.

"For a small project, this one was complex," one judge said.

The memorial has several design features, anchored by the "Postcards" - an asymmetrical pair of slim postcard-like sculptures. Masayuki Sono, a designer born in Japan and now working at Voorsanger & Associates in New York, competed against 179 other designers to create his piece.

"It's a really neat shape," one jury member said.

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Each postcard, weighing approximately 15 tons, has more than 60 anchor bolts and a complex geometry. To maintain the integrity of the design, the project team fabricated each postcard as a monolithic piece measuring 40 ft. tall and 40 ft. long. While the original design called for the postcard walls to be poured-in-place concrete, the team came up with the idea to make them out of fiberglass in lieu of concrete. That strategy ensured the cleanest lines, tightest tolerance, and on-time delivery.

Designers modeled the postcards on computer to determine the lifting points. Afterwards, the team practiced lifting the structures prior to site delivery by mobilizing cranes in Rhode Island.

To avoid damage to the postcards, the loading team had to place them on their foundations, upright. The team used a steel template to install the anchor bolts in the foundation. It then welded the template together and shipped it to Rhode Island, where it was used to fabricate and install the base plates onto the postcards.

The postcards went on separate barges, making a 24-hour journey to Staten Island, where crews hoisted them into place using a marine-based crane. The base plate and sculptures fit exactly onto the anchor bolts on Aug. 16, bringing the project to completion.

The project team had handled other logistical issues. The site of the memorial is an existing waterfront esplanade beyond the outfield fence of a minor-league baseball stadium. Part of the esplanade is on concrete piles, while the rest is on grade with a concrete retaining wall protecting it from water. Soil conditions led the project team to place the sculptures on a tabletop slab on grade with integrated piles to prevent uplift and overturning.

The memorial also has 271 plaques, each including a family interview and photograph of the victim. The plaques include water-jet-cut profiles based on electronic recreations of each person's photograph.