Goldberger Response

When first reading Paul Goldberger’s Requiem, I was confused as to whether to analyze his writing or Hans and Torrey Butzer’s memorial dedicated to the Oklahoma City Bombing victims. When I began to research on Goldberger, I learned he was actually a very well-known and influential architectural critic who formerly was a dean at Parsons School of Design.

Goldberger opens the discussion on the Oklahoma City memorial by comparing the bombing to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Goldberger describes the differences between the two cities and how the memorial process differs immensely. The most interesting difference I found is who the memorial is directed to: Goldberger describes the residents of Oklahoma a more “homogenous” group of people versus New York City’s very diverse population. Because of this homogeneous population, I believe Goldberger is hinting at how it may be easier to build a memorial because of similar interests.

Goldberger goes on to describe how Oklahoma City’s mayor, Ronald Norick, was troubled in trying to create an “appropriate” memorial; therefore, hired a task force to see what to do. A mission statement was created in order to help conceive a memorial, which would be created by picking the best design out of a 624 entries from the general public. Ultimately Hans and Torrey Butzer’s simple, but effective memorial was chosen to commemorate the victims of the bombings.

I find the “Field of Empty Chairs” as a very appropriate and elegant way to honor the victims and the families of the bombings. Though, I wish the article had discussed the general Oklahoma City publics’ response to the memorial, because I am sure some might have wanted a less “conceptual” idea.

I chose an image of the temporary 9/11 memorial of lights shining up in the sky, because its simplicity reminds me of the Oklahoma City memorial.