Big Picture: The Rising

Although it is far from complete, the National Sept. 11 Memorial designed by Michael Arad '91 and Peter Walker will be dedicated in downtown Manhattan on the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks. It opens the next day. Visitors will encounter two waterfalls and acresized pools in the footprints of the former towers. Each waterfall starts with individual strands of water merging into a single sheet as they descend. "This is an urban ruin, the walls of which will be defined by the buildings that surround it," says Arad. "The design, unlike most places in New York, is about emptiness and nothingness. It's an emptiness full of meaning, the same way that a moment of silence is filled with intention."