The area where the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center stood until September 11, 2001 has now been converted into a memorial square. The main place there is occupied by the National Memorial, which opened in 2011 (architect Michael Arad, landscape architect Paul Walker): water always flows into the deep "imprints" of the towers. This project is called "Reflection of Absence", while the Snøhetta Pavilion, on the contrary, is devoted not to the past, but to the present and future of the surviving New York City.
This connection with life and "presence" is expressed in the pavilion's mirrored facades: glass and stainless steel panels reflect the sky, buildings, trees, visitors. This 3-storey building, the only vertical element on the memorial square, also serves as a "threshold" - between the everyday life of the metropolis and the silence and spiritual content of the memorial, on top - the square - and the museum completely located underground (architects Davis Brody Bond), between the light of the open space and the twilight of the lower halls.
In the center of the pavilion is an atrium filled with light, where two supporting columns of the Twin Towers are installed as a memorial. Through this atrium, daylight enters the museum below.
In the interior design, in addition to glass and polished concrete, ash wood was used. The pavilion includes, in addition to the lobby and atrium, an auditorium, exhibition spaces and a "family room" intended for relatives of the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack.
