Postcards 9/11 Memorial, Staten Island

The 9/11 Postcards memorial stands along the waterfront on Staten Island, one office New York City Boroughs, pointing towards the direction where the Twin Towers previously stood in Lower Manhattan.

Dedicated on September 11th, 2004, the Postcards memorial designed by Masayuki Sono commemorates the residents of Staten Island killed in the September 11th terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center. According to a 2006 paper, engineer Seth Wolfe from Weidlinger Associates, the engineering firm that lead the project, said that Sono built models “by hand, often out of postcards” and incorporated “origami-like inward folds” and enlarged the standard postcard size by a factor to represent the number of victims from Staten Island during the terrorist attack. The Postcards memorial serves as a symbol of letters from families to their lost relatives.

A 2005 article from Lighting Design + Application, an engineering trade magazine, said that a committee that included relatives of the victims, community members, and local officials selected the site for the memorial and the design. Adding a human element to the impressive structure, the sculpture differs from other 9/11 memorials because it features the profiles of the victims modeled from photos offered by their loved ones in addition to their names and work positions at the time of the tragedy. The two postcards’ walls in the memorial directly point to the previous location of the Twin Towers and offer a quiet place to take in the views of the Lower Manhattan skyline and Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.

The local community uses the memorial and the surrounding grounds for exercise and leisurely strolling, as it connects with the boardwalk leading to an outdoor shopping plaza and transit hub. It serves as a place of reflection for those who choose to sit on nearby benches and in the shade of the trees of the surrounding park.

The outer facing walls of the monument resemble an envelope, but together, its two sides look like a pair of wings.

Zoya, a local resident, said that she wasn’t aware of what the monument was dedicated to at first but was amazed by the silence between the memorial’s walls. She enjoyed the sounds of the water nearby.

Osnat, an Israeli tourist, remarked how the profiles of the victims made her feel more connected to them and had a memorable impact on her interaction with the monument.

People rest in the shade that the memorial and nearby trees provide while they take in the view of New York Harbor.