DATE=9/8/03

TYPE=English Feature

NUMBER=7-37829

TITLE:Pentagon Memorial

BYLINE=Robin Rupli

TELEPHONE=401-7430

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

EDITOR=Rob Sivak 202-619-2023

CONTENT=

INTRO: Two years after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, family members of the victims who died at the Pentagon will soon have a memorial to honor their loved ones. A competition announced shortly after the attacks invited architects from all over the world to submit their ideas for a Pentagon Memorial. Out of more than 1,100 entries, two young architects from New York were chosen for their winning design. Robin Rupli has more about the memorial, which from the beginning has been a labor of love among architects, Pentagon family members and the Department of Defense.

TEXT: American Airlines Flight #77 was hijacked by Islamic terrorists on September 11, 2001, and flown into the side of the Pentagon building near Washington, D-C. That fiery crash resulted in the deaths of fifty-nine passengers and crewmembers onboard the plane and 125 service members and civilians at work inside the Pentagon building. Almost immediately Congress authorized the Secretary of Defense to establish a memorial on the grounds of the Pentagon.

TAPE: ANDERSON-AUSTRA :05

"Anyone who came in contact with this project immediately put their heart into it."

TEXT: Carol Anderson-Austra is a landscape architect with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, and she is the manager of the Planning and Design competition for the Pentagon Memorial Project. Ms. Anderson-Austra says the announcement for the competition on July 11, 2002 drew thousands of applicants.

TAPE: CAROL ANDERSON AUSTRA :45

"(OPT) Because we're a government agency, we don't usually advertise in magazines, but magazines did carry the story and the word got out. And we got a web-site it had all the competition instructions which were very rudimentary, very simple. (END OPT) We didn't want a huge firm to be able to dazzle the world with a huge presentation. Everyone had to do one board, thirty inches wide by 40 inches tall. That meant a five year-old child or an eleven year-old child could do it or a huge firm. And some firms put many architects on that project for many months. Others were done by solitary designers. So by September 11th (2002) we had 1,126 actual submissions that met the criteria."

TEXT: But Ms. Anderson-Austra says the real driving force behind the memorial design and competition were the dozen family members of Pentagon victims who worked with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers to steer potential designers in the right direction. They call themselves "the Steering Committee."

TAPE: CAROL ANDERSON AUSTRA :30

(OPT) "We said to the families, 'Here's a dozen potential sites a good memorial needs a good site. The family members said it had to be as close as possible to the impact site and they had to see the impact site. So that really narrowed it down. (END OPT) And they were very specific about what they wanted or didn't want no airplanes, no flames, there were certain things that were very clear to them that might not have occurred to a designer."

TEXT: After examining more than a thousand architectural designs which were displayed at the National Building Museum in Washington, the Steering Committee and U.S. Army Corp of Engineers announced the winners of the Pentagon Memorial project. Partners Julie Beckman and Keith Kaseman of New York City won for their one-hectare park of objects and trees, marked by sculpted aluminum benches that parallel the flight path of Flight 77.

TAPE: JULIE BECKMAN :19

"We wanted this place to have an emphasis on life. So through materials, we wanted to engage the senses and remind everyone that comes to visit that it is a peaceful place to really appreciate their own lives as well as respect those and honor those whose lives were lost that day."

TEXT: Pentagon Memorial winner and architect Julie Beckman says she and her partner Keith Kaseman had always appreciated the interpretative qualities of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington where visitors could touch and feel the names of those soldiers carved in the long black slabs of granite.

TAPE: JULIE BECKMAN/KEITH KASEMAN :53

"So we knew right away that we wanted to create a place that is dedicated to each of the 184 victims here in Washington and that is dedicated to their family and friends. And so, collectively, these 184 places would create a memorial for the nation at large. (OPT) And begin to tell the story of who these individuals were, how 59 passengers on the plane were brought together with 125 individuals in the building. KEITH KASEMAN: "And just as important was the idea that this place should be like no other. Because that day was like no other. And aside from being a somber place, we felt it should be an inviting place as well."

TEXT: For the Pentagon Memorial, Julie Beckman and Keith Kaseman have engraved each aluminum bench with the name of a victim, placing it in order of the victims' ages. Light and water will surround the benches in a kind of reflecting pool, sheltered by trees. Benches representing those killed in the building will face toward the Pentagon; benches representing those on the plane will face away from the building. Jim Laychek is spokesman for the families on the Steering Committee. He lost his brother David, a Pentagon worker in the 9/11 attacks.

TAPE: JIM LAYCHEK :20

"What we wanted was a place of remembrance and a place of comfort for those of us left behind. And then, another thought is that it's a gift to future generations to be able to go to a place and really understand the enormous tragedy and horrific nature of that day."

TEXT: (OPT) Mr. Laychek says he could defend any design that was the result of such a fair and democratic competition. He says he is especially pleased by the way the memorial captures the randomness and range of individuals who were lost that day.

TAPE: LAYCHEK :45

"It wasn't selective. People of all different ages died and it had a ripple effect in terms of how many other lives were affected after these people were kind of 'snatched.' It really hits you when you look at those benches on the right hand side and realize that those were children. And there's a section of people all the way to up to age 71. So that idea of having it arranged on an age line -- I think of the fact that it was individual in nature yet it is a whole collective memorial. And yet it is still told in a very eloquent, subtle way. Because the family members early on felt that we didn't want to tell you what to think, we wanted to make you think." (END OPT)

TEXT: Jim Laychek's focus today is helping to raise money to fund the construction of the Pentagon Memorial, which will cost about twelve million dollars to build over the next twenty months. In New York City, a similar competition is underway for the design of a memorial at the former World Trade Center site. New York's Municipal Art Society is overseeing the "Imagine New York" competition, which has registered over 5,000 entries so far. The winning design will be announced later this fall. (SIGNED)

VOA/rr/rms