Politics & Government

Artifacts From 9/11 To Be Used In Memorial At Follin Lane Tracking Facility

World Trade Center and Pentagon pieces included in plan for building occupied by Terrorist Screening Center

Flagpoles from the World Trade Center and remnants of the Pentagon will be incorporated into a memorial outside of an industrial commercial facility on Follin Lane, known as “Liberty Park,” in time for the attack’s 10th anniversary this year.

At its meeting Monday night, The Vienna Town Council approved the Liberty Park Artifact Memorial Plan, which will include the use of six artifacts in and around the office space at 801 Follin Lane SE, occupied by the Terrorist Screening Center.

 “We were born out of 9/11,” a representative from the facility said. “It’s a way to remind our employees of why they’re here.”

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The plan, created by Hickok Cole Architects and Vika, Inc., Engineers, includes  three restored flagpoles from the World Trade Center, each 60 feet tall, which will be arranged around a small stone memorial in the front of the facility, formerly known as The Page Building.

The first pole will cast a shadow on the stone at 8:46 and 9:03 a.m., the time of the attacks on the World Trade Center towers. The second will cast a shadow at 9:37 a.m., the time of the attack on the Pentagon. The final pole will cast a shadow at 10:03 a.m., marking the time of the final plane crash in Pennsylvania. A steel antenna will also be located on a platform near the front visitor’s entrance.

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The Council granted developers an exemption to the 45-foot limit on such structures in the CMP-Planned Industrial District for the poles.

A trident from the World Trade Center will be re-purposed as a sculpture in the back of the building. The two other existing tridents stand side-by-side in New York, anchored in the original foundation of the World Trade Center, the representative from the facility said. They will be dedicated at a ceremony at the New York plaza on the anniversary of the attacks this year.

A short structural steel column from the North Tower will also be located inside the building, and a piece of the limestone base of the Pentagon will stand outside the building, carved with a dedication and description of the memorial.

Brian Stephenson, a landscape architect on the project, said they are treating the park like a “museum piece in many ways,” including below- and above- ground lighting specific to each artifact. Developers told council members the lights would not carry over to neighboring properties.

But the memorial will not be like a museum to the general public. Citizens will be invited to view the memorial at various points throughout the year, but it will not be open for viewing on a daily basis. The facility plans to hold invite-only memorial ceremonies on the anniversary of the attack each year. They hope to have it ready for the 10th anniversary of the attacks this September.

A citizen at the meeting suggested the facility bring local elementary school children – many of whom were not alive when the attacks occurred – to view the memorial once a year. 

A representative from the facility said they were working out plans with their security team to make parts of the memorial available for viewing on an invitation-only basis, but did not comment specifically on the possibility of annual field trips. Stephenson said some of the artifacts would be visible to those who drove by.


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