NEWARK, N.J. – New Jersey's Sept. 11 (search) memorial will be a pair of parallel stainless steel walls, 200 feet long by 30 feet high, inscribed with the names of the 710 state residents killed in the World Trade Center attacks.
The memorial, titled Empty Sky, will be set in the northeast corner of Liberty State Park (search) in Jersey City, at the mouth of the Hudson River opposite lower Manhattan.
The design was unveiled in dramatic fashion on Wednesday by its Manhattan-based architect, Frederic Schwartz (search), who won a competition in which the six finalists were judged last week by family members of the victims.
Schwartz, who was given an emotional introduction by Gov. James E. McGreevey (search), stood on a stage at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark before an audience of reporters, victims' family members and others.
"Each and every day I share your sorrow," Schwartz told the dozen victims' family members present. "For each and every one of you, I'm sorry."
No time frame has been established for completion of the memorial, which is estimated to cost $7 million. The funds will be raised through a combination of state and private contributions, McGreevey said.
"Nothing that I say or this state does can ever address the horror of that day," McGreevey told family members.
A scale model of the memorial was at Wednesday's unveiling. It will be set into a 1.6-acre pitched oval lawn near the park's historic Central Rail Road of New Jersey terminal, in view of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and ground zero.
Also on hand was a 3-foot by 5-foot sample section of shiny metal wall, several names spelled out in letters 3 inches high, etched deep into the steel to accommodate rubbings.
The highly reflective steel will change color with the time of day and the season, and will reflect mourners' own images against the etched names of the victims. A 2-foot blank space at the base of each wall is for mementos.
The walls, set 16 feet apart astride a blue stone walkway, will form a visual corridor focusing on the former trade center site across the river.
The site will be planted with three stands of dogwood trees, which mark the passing seasons with white flowers in spring, leafy green shade in summer, rich reds in autumn, and starkness in winter. Violets, the state flower, will be planted throughout the site.
One family member and competition judge, Aileen Ryan Burden, said participating in the competition was a way to get over the loss of her brother, John J. Ryan, 45, of West Windsor, a vice president at Keene, Brunette & Woods, who left behind a wife and three children.
"You have to look at it as an outlet for the grief," Ryan said.
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