KU News Release

Architect who helped plan World Trade Center’s redevelopment to speak at KU

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas will mark the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks with two displays and a visit from the man who designed initial plans for the Freedom Tower, the centerpiece of the planned redevelopment at New York City’s Ground Zero.

Architectural drawings by Daniel Libeskind, who in 2002 won the invitational competition to develop a master plan for the World Trade Center’s redevelopment, will be on display in the gallery on the fourth floor of the Kansas Union through Sept. 29.

Libeskind will talk about his experiences in a speech titled “Breaking Ground” at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 20, at Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union. The event is sponsored by Student Union Activities.

A second display, at the Dole Institute of Politics, will run through Tuesday, Sept. 12. It features a 10-minute video and some of the most compelling photographs taken during the national tragedy. The images will be displayed alongside images of the same sites taken in June.

Featured scenes include dust-covered New Yorkers walking in the city after the towers collapsed, alongside smiling faces on the same street in 2006; firefighters in front of the remains of the towers next to an image of construction on the site this year; and the Pentagon with a gaping hole six days after it was struck and the building today, appearing as if the attack had never occurred.

All events are free and open to the public.

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The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university. University Relations is the central public relations office for KU's Lawrence campus.