Hangar 17

An abandoned hangar once used by Tower Air, Hangar 17 at JFK is now home to some of the largest and most profoundly disturbing artifacts in the world. While most of us saw the Towers fall, either as it happened or in one of the many endless replays, you can't understand the scale of the destruction until you stand next to massive pieces of steel, bent and twisted from the terrible force of the collapse. Pieces of the building's façade—known as the "Tridents," with "save" scrawled on their rusting steel—are being prepared to return to the site. In the sealed, tented airplane hangar, crushed fire trucks, ambulances, and even a taxi cab await their return to the underground museum. There's even an entire PATH subway car. In one corner of the hangar, a large table serves as a command center for the restoration team, who are working to protect and preserve the fragile reminders and quickly fading posters that once adorned what is now known as "the last column."

The Pools

The two massive "voids" that will be the centerpiece of the memorial will be placed exactly on the footprint of where the towers stood. Architect Michael Arad designed the memorial, which will have the names of the victims etched into the brass plates that ring the outer edge of the pools. A continuous flow of water will create a four-sided waterfall, with black slate on the sides and the bottom of the two pools.

Related:

• Archive: “Artifact”
• Articles by Robert Kolker
• Table of Contents: Sep 13, 2010 issue of New York | Subscribe!