The fountains' water flows into granite reflecting pools at the center of the 8-acre, tree-lined plaza.
Bronze plates surround the fountains and bear the names of the 2,977 people killed in the attacks in New York, Washington and rural Pennsylvania, as well as the six who were killed when a truck bomb exploded in the parking garage beneath the twin towers in 1993.
By design, the placement of the names was given a lot of thought.
Arad said the names are staggered -- arranged not alphabetically but by something known as "meaningful adjacency." This way, Arad says, each name connects to another and "beyond a physical place, there is a relationship between one name and another." Input was shared by families of the victims so friends, family members, co-workers or people who commuted to work together were listed side by side. By doing so, more personal meaning was brought into the arrangement.
The memorial plaza is open seven days a week and will be so forever, said Joe Daniels, president of the 9/11 Memorial.
Visitors must, however, reserve a timed but free pass through the memorial's website.
