NEW YORK, NY January 07, 2004 —

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A jury in New York City has chosen a design featuring pools of water, a paved stone field, and a grove of trees for the World Trade Center memorial. The choice of the design by a New York City employee came from among some 5200 submissionss. From member station WNYC, Andrea Bernstein reports.

In the end, sources close to the jury said, the simple appeal of the design Reflecting Absences won out over the spectacular nature of some of its competitors. At the heart of the design are two pools of water that can be viewed at several levels, filling the so-called footprints of the twin towers. Architect Michael Arad described his entry in a video last November.

The sheer enormity of these pools and these two incredibly long ribbons of names would just serve to underscore how large a tragedy occurred.

In one of the more significant changes to his entry, pines trees - often described as spindly, will be replaced by what jury chair Varton Gregorian describes as teeming groves of trees, traditional affirmations of life and rebirth. And the so-called bedrock underneath the old world trade center would be accessible - a key demand of some family members. But even with these changes, critics held the memorial selection process was too rushed - and was producing too generic a memorial. Clifford Chanin heads the Legacy Project, a group that chronicles the remembering of tragic events.

Two years is not a lot of time not at all in the context not only of what happened on September 11 but in the last two years because of what has happened because of September 11.

Sources familiar with the jury's deliberation say the barrage of criticism - which included former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's suggestion they scrap all the finalists - led to some tough days. But Lower Manhattan Development Corporation spokesman Matt Higgins asked the public to take a broad view of the memorial.

Higgens: 10 The 4.5 acre space provides a fitting place to remember and reflect upon the loss, the freedom tower reclaims the skyline, the cultural space and the commercial space restores life to the site.

There can be no rebuilding on the trade center site without the selection of a memorial, and New York Governor George Pataki is eager to begin construction. A model of the memorial design will be unveiled next week. For NPR News, I'm Andrea Bernstein in New York.