Architect inspired by WTC challenge.

Architect Edward Rory McGinnis was looking at a meat tenderizer when he thought of an idea for a memorial to mark Sept. 11.

When McGinnis saw the light gleaming from the diamond-shaped prongs on the tenderizer, he was inspired to create "The Flight of Diamonds," an interactive memorial that is part of his vision for rebuilding the World Trade Center site.

"I felt the city needs more than a pretty new building," he said.

McGinnis' idea is to place 2,801 aluminum diamond monuments--one for each of the World Trade Center victims--in the footprints of where the Twin Towers stood. The diamonds would be placed in two pools of water that would have fountains of "dandelion" sprays, which would be turned off every day just before the time the towers were attacked.

Every Sept. 11--at precisely 8:46 a.m. and 9:03 a.m. when the airplanes struck the towers--the sun would cast light through two openings in the new World Trade Center office buildings. The sun would reflect off the diamonds and back into grandstands built into the openings of the buildings where tourists would gather for viewing purposes.

"The diamond-shaped faces of the monuments--with names of all the lost souls--are cast from the aluminum from the fallen towers, each about four feet tall, and are buffed and focused to distribute reflected light across the entire grandstands," according to McGinnis' description of the monument. "Most of the monuments are silver aluminum, but among them are some with warm reddish copper, white-like stainless steel and blue anodized aluminum surfaces (red, white and blue) representing the fallen uniformed heroes lost on that fateful day."

No one asked McGinnis to come up with an idea for a memorial or a design for the new office and retail space to be built at the World Trade Center site, nor was he among the seven groups of architects chosen by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to develop plans for the site. But like other architects, he felt frustrated by the lackluster designs released by the city earlier this year and was compelled to come up with his own vision. McGinnis acknowledges that, by no means, is his plan the only alternative vision for the site.

"I'm probably one of a thousand," he said. "It became a challenge for me. Somebody said, 'if you can do better, then do better."'

McGinnis started his firm in 1981, which he currently operates from an office on 22nd Street in Chelsea. Among residential projects he had worked on include Broadway Tower in Manhattan, the Eastern Parkway Residences in Brooklyn, and the Gazebo at Washington Market Park.

Other aspects of McGinnis' plan are 7.8 million SF of office buildings with four office towers, the two tallest at 84 and 72 stories high, replicating the Twin Towers with connecting building structures. A World Trade Center museum would be located beneath the grandstands.

The plan also calls for a half-acre park at the corner of Vessey and Greenwich Streets; a 34-story, 600,000-SF hotel; and 585,000 SF of retail space above ground with street frontage. It also has the potential for an additional 3.2 million SF of office space over a community facility, underground parking, housing development and a 1,500-foot high skyline element.

When the LMDC was seeking architects to devise new plans for the World Trade Center, McGinnis sent his name to the city for consideration. But he knew it was extremely unlikely that the city would pick the "David" in a world full of architectural "Goliaths."

But McGinnis plans to send his designs to the LMDC as part of the public commentary portion of the site development process. In the meantime, he has posted a complete description and renderings on his website at McGinnisArch.com.

"I offer the concept to the public as a litmus test to compare the forthcoming designs being developed by the LMDC and Port Authority," he said.