"World Trade Center Site"

Introduction
Students know what happened on September 11, 2001. In this activity, students will learn what is happening in New York City to rebuild and to honor those who were lost.

Lesson Description
Students will use the information on the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) Web site to explore the approved design for rebuilding on the World Trade Center site. They will also investigate the other proposed plans, each containing a description and several different views of the design. Students will then answer four questions and draw their own proposal for the memorial site.

Instructional Objectives:

1. Students will identify the priorities of those rebuilding the World Trade Center site, and analyze how these priorities are evidenced in the both the approved design and in the other designs that have been proposed.
2. Students will qualitatively analyze the different designs, and consider how those who are rebuilding the site might construct a memorial.

1. Daniel Libeskind's primary challenge was to acknowledge the tragic deaths of the thousands of people who perished at the site, while at the same time creating a design that looked to the future with hope.
2. The elements the new design will include are: a museum, which will become the entrance to Ground Zero; space for the Memorial, the design for which will be decided through an international competition; two public spaces, the Park of Heroes and the Wedge of Light; an elevated walkway; a new Lower Manhattan rail station with a concourse linking the PATH trains and connecting the subways, hotels, a performing arts center, office towers, underground malls, street level shops, restaurants, and cafes; and a huge spire.
3. The tallest element in the new design is the "towering spire." It will be 1776 feet high, and will be called the "Gardens of the World."
4. Students should compare the approved design with the other proposed designs, express their opinions regarding whether they feel that the approved design was the best choice, and explain their opinions.
5. Discuss with students their feelings as to what a memorial of 9/11 should include. Posters that the students create should detail their visions of an appropriate memorial. Remind them that the memorial site will become a symbol of what September 11, 2001, meant to New York, and to the rest of the United States.