Ukrainian architect designs Pennsylvania memorial to 9/11 (12/17/06)

Ukrainian architect designs Pennsylvania memorial to 9/11

LOWER MAKEFIELD, Pa. - Over 2,500 people came to Memorial Park on September 30 for the dedication of the Garden of Reflection, the Pennsylvania memorial for the 9/11 victims designed by Ukrainian achitect Liuba Poczynok Lashchyk.

Attendees included Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick, (R-Pa.), representatives of various religious denominations and the families of the victims.

In the spring of 2002, the Lower Makefield Township in Bucks County began gathering input for a memorial. It was then that the local 9/11 Families Committee composed of Ellen Saracini, Grace Godshalk, Tara Bane and Fiona Havlish, chose the $1.4 million design of Ms. Lashchyk.

Ms. Lashchyk's design, made with input from the community, has a tear-shaped entrance that displays fragments of the ruins of the World Trade Center and the 2,973 names of victims etched on glass panels along a "Walk of Remembrance" that takes the observer around a twin fountain that represents the twin towers of the WTC. The fountain is surrounded by a memorial rail engraved with the names of the 17 victims from Bucks County at the heart of the memorial. Along the illuminated path are 17 maple trees representing the Bucks County victims.

It is a garden indeed, but a very special one, "because in its midst stand stark reminders of the magnitude of that tremendous day that shook our nation and shattered so many lives," Ms. Lashchyk said.

At the dedication, Ms. Lashchyk explained that the 42 lights that line the path symbolize "the children from Pennsylvania who lost a parent that day and who in the midst of sorrow light up our lives and are a source of hope. Life moves on."

At the dedication ceremony, Lawrence Newman, president of the Yardley-Makefield Fire Company rang a bell 17 times for the Bucks County victims and once for the rest.

During the week prior to the dedication, another name was added to the list of victims. Barbara Shaw was a resident of Bensalem in Bucks County for over 30 years before she moved to Morris Township, N.J., where she resided at the time of her death.

"It is a beautiful tribute to all those that we lost," said Ms. Bane, whose husband, Michael, of Yardley, was one of the 17 victims from Bucks County.

Congressman Fitzpatrick said the garden would also be evidence of the positives that came from this nation's darkest day. "Today we see the tangible hope for a bright future," Mr. Fitzpatrick told the crowd. "This is a very special place."

Ms. Lashcyk was born of Ukrainian parents in Czechoslovakia and was raised in Venezuela, where she earned a degree in architecture and planning from the Universidad Central in Caracas. During her studies, the new landscape vocabulary of figurative art of Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx influenced her work.

After graduation Ms. Lashchyk worked at the Offices of William Lescaze, Architects, in Manhattan. Later she started her private practice in Bucks County, Pa., where she currently resides.

For more information about her 9/11 project, readers may log on to www.9-11memorialgarden.org.

The article above was based on information submitted by Maria Ivanna Lobay and a news story from the Bucks County Courier Times written by Brian Sheid.

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