The 911 and Vietnom memorials

I think that the difference between the 911 memorial and the Vietnam memorial reflected more than just a varying artistic approach, rather, I think it matched the differing feelings the architects intended to provoke in connection to each event being memorialized.

The 911 memorial was a very low structure –  or more specifically – below.  It was very deep hole, made of dark stone, with water pouring continuously but never filling up. From a height perspective, it stands out in contrast with the tall buildings in the skyline around it. In relation to color, it also looks different, while the glass and brushed metal of the buildings around it reflect the sun, this seemingly bottomless pit is just full of darkness.  I think the purpose of the memorial is to create an opening for people to pour their sorrows out.  It is called a reflecting pool, but it isn’t a still body of water that reflects.  I think the real reflection is what is going on inside of every individual who visits the site.  All that we have left of the terrible tragedy of 911 is a feeling of lack and sadness for all the innocent lives that were lost.  Standing at the edge of the reflecting pool, hearing nothing but the rushing water, I really felt that emptiness.  No exciting city noises and sounds to fill the void, just the rushing water and deep, dark, pool to give you a moment in time to look down, literally and figuratively, ponder and mourn.

In comparison, the Vietnam memorial was different architecturally and led to emotions that differed in a way from the 911 memorial. It was not tall, but definitely high, as it rose up. It was a wall made of glass cubes, and had writing on it that wasn’t visible if you saw it from afar.  While the 911 memorial focused more on personal remembrances, this one is more to combat the ignorance of many people to what was lost in this war.  Many people don’t have a close connection to the Vietnam War. It was “long ago and in a far away land”, not close to home and recently enough like 911. The people who died were soldiers, who we tend to think of as a whole but not really in the individual sense.  I think the point of the memorial was to show the viewer that we didn’t just lose a “wall of soldiers”, we lost many different “cubes” – people who had individual thoughts, fears, loved ones, and whole lives. The memorial causes people to lift up their heads, also literally and figuratively.  It forces people to shed their ignorance of a hard subject to deal with and spend the time on something that takes more thought to understand and feel. At least that’s what I got out of the experience.

All in all, I found it easier to connect to the 911 memorial more so that the Vietnam one.  I guess I understood it better because I am more personally associated with it.  While I hypothesized about many things in the Vietnam memorial, There are many things I am still curious about that I cannot answer on my own.  Why were there doorways through the Vietnam memorial?  Why make the letters so hard to read? How were the specific texts on the memorial chosen? If you have any ideas, please let me know!