Category — Architecture/Place/Memorial

It was my first time visiting the Vietnam and 9/11 memorial. These memorials depressed me when I first stepped in. Both were very touching and made me understand the fraction of the pain the family gone through.

The person who designed the Vietnam memorial did a fantastic job because he/she made the event more real with real letters and quotes. There is one letter about a soldier who knew he was going to die and did not want to tell his mother. His only wish was to be able to tell his mother person to person. That was really touching and I felt so sorry for the person and the family. The simplicity and the colors of the memorial provoke a calm feeling. There was a recently added fountain, which adds to the calm feeling. I found the letters hard to read figuratively and literally because the letters provokes a feeling that people do not enjoy, and literally because the words are basically the same color as the background. It is also cool that the block wall glows.

Similarly the person who designed the 9/11 memorial did a fantastic job because it makes the viewers think. There were two enormous towers before and now there are two large holes. The waterfall is beautiful and the design is very simple. There is only one color black, which tells the viewers that this memorial is not supposed to be showy. The memorial was very organized and the victims were honored well. Like the Vietnam memorial, the waterfalls made the environment very calm and sad in a way. The yellow flowers on some of the names add to the depressed mood that some people have. The survivor tree made me feel sorrier for the victims and the family because I imagine myself in their shoes looking at that tree every day while walking to work.

My experience of the 9/11 Memorial was rather interesting. I didn’t think it would affect me the way it did because I didn’t personally know anyone from the incident. I felt like a tourist, as if I was going to look at the scenery of New York and take pictures and then leave. But that’s when it hit me – that the 9/11 Memorial is a part of the scene of New York. As a New Yorker, we bear the image of the drastic attack that our nation took on that day. While the attack may have not affected me directly, it has affected the way that others see New York. While there, I realized that there were tons of tourists who were there to take pictures and too look at the pools. I realized though that when I walked up to the pool, my first inclination was not too take a picture. I stopped. I paused. I gave the people who lost their lives a small moment of silence. I felt the need to pay respect for these people even though I knew nothing about them. The same happened at the Vietnam War Memorial. I didn’t know any of the heroes who lost their lives, but I read the letters that were on the wall and sympathized with the families who lost their loved ones. Here, I have a picture that shows the letter from the Vietnam War Memorial and the names from the 9/11 Memorial. I took the picture of this particular name because of the rose that I found laying on top of the name. It spoke to me more than just the rest of the names around the pool with no flower. It was like the flower said to me that somewhere in New York was this person’s family and they were still hurt from the days of the attack. But that was all that I could get from it. However, the Vietnam War letter spoke so much to me. It was like this person was real and you could feel like you know more about this person. A letter turns this soldier almost into an acquaintance or someone that was a family friend. I started to imagine what he looks like, or how he died. I wanted to know more about the author of the letter. Whereas in the picture above it, I wanted to visit the victim’s family and comfort them. I wonder if the 9/11 Memorial is all about New York. I feel as if it was meant to inspire unity in New York, as if it was meant to be a way of saying, “Hey, you may not know this person, but what if you had?”
Now to talk a little bit more in depth about what I thought about the pools in the 9/11 Memorial. I thought that they were interesting because of the two effects that one could could get out of them. The water falling from the sides makes a lot of noise and is very chaotic. When you stand close to the pool, it is the only thing that you can hear except for the people who are standing next to you and talking. It’s this chaotic sound that I think is supposed to remind us of the Chaotic events that occurred on this tragic day. It’s too remind us that while everything in New York may be peaceful now, there was a time when things were dark and when things were getting out of hand. Interestingly enough though, the center of the pool looks so calm. I’ve juxtaposed the two pictures because i wanted to make that comparison. The inside of the pool looks like a nice pond, with a small current pushing the water to the center where it is then dropped off into the square hole. Peaceful. The Sides however have the free falling waterfall that crashes to the bottom in obnoxious sound and even causes a white disturbance in the water. The pools are a blend of chaos and peace, almost as an indication of the blend that New York has been in ever since the attack

Finally, I would like to leave off with this last picture. In it, is a line of names that have flowers on them as seen in the earlier picture, but also a nice statement written to the Pilots in the crash. This note was powerful. It had emotion in ways that the flower of the name did. I picked this to include in my post because I was wondering what people thought was more powerful.

Good morning everyone,

Whenever I think about the 9/11 Memorial, I not only remember the loss and suffering thousands of people experienced as a result of the terrorist attacks, but I also remember the fallout, the discriminatory backlash that I personally have experienced as a result of 9/11. Post 9/11, I felt like I was constantly surrounded by Islamophobic, anti-Islamic rhetoric, whether it was on the news or hearing people say things to me. I knew that these were the raw products of insensible, fear-inspired hate, but for many years, I felt like I could do nothing to suade these sentiments, allay the fear, anger, and hate against millions of Muslim Americans, including myself.  As a result of these feelings, I decided to advocate on behalf of Islam by setting the record straight so that one day, the people who know me can automatically know the difference between what Islam actually teaches and terrorism.

 I recorded us actually walking around the 9/11 Memorial before we even saw the South Pool or the Survivor Tree because while we were walking, I had a strange sense of foreboding and mourning in the pit of my stomach. These feelings reached their height when I approached the South Pool.

While I was gazing at the seemingly depthless hole in the South Pool inhaling the faint scent of perfume and sea salt, those initial feelings of anger and frustration created a sort of mental vacuum that prohibited all other thoughts from settling into my mind.  After some time, I noticed the sober colors of the 9/11 Memorial that exacerbated those initial feelings: black, grey, and dark green emphasized my feelings of sadness and oddly, drowning. It was all very strange: the sea salt reminded me of my times walking along the beach, which reflected that horrible sense of drowning.  Needless to say, the 9/11 Memorial had a significant emotional impact on me for some reasons that I cannot describe.

A couple of hours passed before I could actually marvel at the architecture present before me in the form of the South Pool. I admired the clever juxtaposition of the tall, reflective, steel buildings that surrounded the deep, dark pools. The depth of the etched names in the black, cold marble complemented the profundity of my emotions and the depth of the holes in the center of the pools.

All in all, visiting the 9/11 Memorial was a rather interested experience. Feel free to share your own thoughts.

Hi guys,

These are a couple of pictures of the 9/11 memorial.

Besides the two pools, I also found the Survivor Tree really interesting. It’s a pear tree that miraculously survived the September 11 attacks. It was preserved for replanting and now stands as a symbol of hope and rebirth for many people.

article about the tree

It’s interesting to note how the tree looks incomplete, with a gap on one side of the tree.

Hello,

I’ve noticed how many of the newer buildings in Manhattan reflect other buildings especially by the 9/11 Memorial. With the gray skies on the day we went, the building I saw looked almost transparent.

Just imagine what it will be like going there on a sunny day in years from now. As Professor Ugoretz pointed out, the newly planted trees are oak and will grow much taller. Some of the trees will be taken over by ivy and all will provide shade for the benches and perfectly trimmed grass. Along with the breeze from the waterfalls of the pools, the memorial will be like a cool sanctuary from hot summer days. Those murdered should be honored with nothing less than perfection.

I couldn’t really find any piece of art that represented Jamaica, Queens (the place where I grew up), so I decided to show a piece of architecture that was a symbol of Bangladesh, where I went to over the summer.

The Shaheed Minar is a national monument built to memorialize those who lost their lives during the Bengali Language Movement of 1952. It’s the perfect representation of Bangladesh because it’s a symbol of a major reason why Bangladesh became independent – to have the right to its own language. By making demonstrations and fighting for the right to keep their language, many Bengali citizens lost their lives. The Shaheed Minar is both a memorial for those who died and a symbol of the importance of language.

I also decided to share this because we’ve just gone to a couple of memorials – you guys can compare this to the 9/11 and Vietnam memorials. Hope you guys like it!

For those that stayed at the memorial when it got dark, they got to see the waterfalls actually light up, including the names a little bit later. This is how it looked:
1.

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Notice in #3 and #5 how with the light, the waterfall on all sides is now a reflection of the rest of the pool, giving each wall ‘depth’. The pool seems much larger now as a result of this mirror effect (thanks to Amanda for pointing it out!).

Hi everyone!

I have lived in Rye, New York my entire life–except now, of course, I am currently in Brooklyn. It is a rather small, unknown town, but one with historical significance nonetheless! It is the location of the Jay Property, for instance, which is the childhood home of John Jay, our nation’s first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

The historic 23 acre park is all that remains of the original 400 acre family estate, the centerpiece of which is an 1838 Greek Revival mansion (above). It was built by his son, Peter Augustus Jay, and is, in my opinion, more than just an old building. The architectural detail of the large Corinthian columns make them a work of art in and of themselves.

The property also has a beautiful view of the Long Island Sound and is located next to the Marshlands Conservancy- an example of what I consider to be art in nature. With public trails, the marshlands are a beautiful  place for nature walks and daytime jogs. Thus, it has become a popular and rather iconic spot in Rye, which is why I chose to share it with all of you 🙂

Hello!

I found some beautiful pictures of the architecture in Taishan, China. The buildings look like buildings from ancient Chinese movies. I remember seeing them in an old Bruce Lee film. There are a lot of stairs leading to the buildings because the buildings are usually built on top of mountains. The buildings in my current neighborhood are modern apartment buildings and my family is one the few Chinese families in the neighborhood! The architecture in Taishan really portrays a suburban and simple lifestyle, unlike our current lifestyle. 🙁

There are a lot of mountains and hills in Taishan, so it is only natural to have paintings of them.

Chinese calligraphy (some people consider art) is found on some mountains.

I currently live near 74^th street of Jackson Heights, which is predominantly a South Asian neighborhood. Therefore, it is not surprising that there are many things around the neighborhood that remind me of my hometown of Dhaka, Bangladesh. However, for this assignment, we have to find art and no piece of artwork reminds me more of Dhaka than the lone rickshaw standing near a restaurant on 73^rd street.

You may be wondering how a vehicle such as a rickshaw can be considered art. At first glance, there is nothing artistic about it. However, after closer inspection, you can see that there are various designs and drawings on the seat, back, and hood of the rickshaw.

Source: http://crs-blog.org/bangladesh-message-look-again/

The designs vary from rickshaw to rickshaw, but they are mainly bright and colorful. The artwork serves two purposes: to make the rickshaw look good and to attract potential riders. The reason that rickshaw artwork is such a strong representation of Dhaka is because it is everywhere in the city. No matter where you go in Dhaka, you are bound to see rickshaws and the colorful artwork associated with them. Personally, when I see the rickshaw parked in Jackson Heights, I am reminded of the various times that I rode a rickshaw with my parents in Dhaka.

While rickshaws are the most common, they are not the only artistic vehicles that you will find on the streets of Dhaka. Some buses, for example have colorful designs.

Source: http://www.bengalnewz.com/bangladesh/dhaka/narayanganj/071122666.html

Trucks in Bangladesh are sure to catch your eyes because of their usual bright yellow color as well as a beautifully designed “crown.”

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rainerebert/4749545440/

Also, there are vehicles called auto rickshaws, or better known as “baby taxis” to Bangladeshis. Similar to rickshaws, auto rickshaws have different designs.

Source: http://jschenke.tumblr.com/page/2

Source: http://zzeecatt.multiply.com/journal/item/710/For-Mr.-Chippy-…..the-Phat-phaty.

These various designs on vehicles make Bangladesh’s vehicles a unique form of art.