LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

URBANISM

ART

Start Date: 2002

Completion Date: 2003

American Express, client

Mehendra Sheth Consulting, engineering

Lawrence Stoller / CrystalWorks, artist

Graham Hansen Design, graphic designer

Dan Euser Water Architecture, fountain consultant

Susan Randolph Fine Arts, art consultant

Peter Mauss / ESTO, photography

Eleven Tears was commissioned by the American Express Corporation in memory of seven employees who died in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. Located in the ground floor lobby of Three World Financial Center the memorial is within view of the Trade Center site. Water, light, crystal, stone and metal form a powerful presence in the space that is abstract from a distance and intensely personal up close. Water drops fall from a seven-sided ceiling canopy into a seven-sided black granite reflecting pool of water. Suspended over the water surface is a 600-pound natural quartz crystal cut with seven facets that capture and reflect light in a beautiful way. The names of the seven victims are inscribed in the pool coping and brief remembrances are set into the pool bottom. The falling tear drops create small ripples in the still water of the pool providing a subtle animation and a quiet sound.