Permanent Installation

9/11 Memorial, Hoboken, NJ

In 2001, fifty-six Hoboken residents died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the most lost from any single community in the tragedy. The community decided to create a memorial in Pier A Park, Hoboken to honor the souls lost in 9/11. The memorial went through a few design iterations, after the initial winning design proved too expensive. Demetri Sarantitis was ultimately chosen as the architect, and beautiful borosilicate glass panels were the starting point, having been purchased for the initial design.

The goal was to render the complexity of this situation in a thoughtful and moving way. I was brought on board to design the lighting for the memorial, and the nuance of feeling that was required by the project was highly important to me.

The memorial is a discreet line of glass panels, one for each lost resident of Hoboken. Each glass panel is lit so as to glow softly from within, representing the soul of each person still here with us in spirit and named on the side.

Subtle color lighting effects communicate some of the deep feelings around the memorial. The lights come on slowly in the late afternoon, rising up to full intensity at dusk and then tapering off to just a whisper of light.

The 9/11 memorial at Hoboken was completed in September 2017. It can be visited freely by the public at all times at Pier A Park, Hoboken, New Jersey, adjacent to the Hoboken PATH Station.