In the case of either a two or three tower plan I believe the only appropriate site is the geographic center. Set in this way the memorial has the added effect of being protected by the surrounding towers. Thus the buildings in a sense become, in addition to and as an extension of their utilitarian functions, themselves a part of the memorial.

Beyond this obvious decision any number of designs for the memorial itself, symmetrical and asymmetrical, may and should be considered. A competition could be held for the design, either open only to New York artists, United States artists, or to artists worldwide.

For purposes of this proposal I envision a huge globe, a hundred feet or more in diameter, making it in size more like the Perisphere at the 1939 World’s Fair than Fritz Koenig’s Sphere.

It could be plain and smooth like the Perisphere, but more likely a highly-detailed globe of the world, which would also be the finest globe in the world, symbolizing the internationalism of commerce as well as the victims. It would sit atop a circular waterfall twenty or thirty feet in height.

(Alternatively one correspondent suggested using the Fritz Koenig sculpture itself, an excellent idea. See Comments From Readers.)

The globe and waterfall would be similar to the original plaza fountain, only on a much larger scale. The waterfall would completely hide— at least to those at ground level— the globe’s means of support. The water level of the pool into which the water falls would be four feet or so above ground level and the surrounding plaza.

This four-foot containment would not be a sheer verticality but be slightly angled down to the plaza. Further it would be broken every seven or eight inches by three-inch-wide horizontal outsets. Into the angled strips of wall thus formed would be installed six-by-eight-inch bronze plaques side by side, one for each of the victims.

The family of each person would have a say in the design of his or her plaque. Besides the individual’s name there would be room for an small embossed portrait and a few words. The relatives could approve the portrait and select the message. The three-inch outset below each ring of plaques would serve for placement of any tokens or mementos.

The memorial plaza itself would not extend unbroken to the towers, but be walled or hedged in such a way as to provide a modicum of intimacy to the visitors to the plaque area. Whereas the globe and waterfall might be seen from some distance, the plaques and tokens would be visible only to memorial visitors, not to casual passers-by.

An option for some or all of these partitions would be the remains of the original towers, preserved for this purpose. This would offer the feel of a further protective enclosure, the new encompassing and reflecting on the old.

Also the containment wall might best be curvilinear rather than circular, to reduce severity of design and increase plaque space. If in the form of a curvilinear triangle (as shown in the drawing), a further refinement would be to have islands in the three pool points, each occupied by a statue-group, one group each for fire, police (including Port Authority), and civilian victims.