World Trade Center Building to Feature Poetry in Lobby

The first building to be rebuilt at Ground Zero, 7 World Trade Center, will feature a scrolling display of poetry and other texts in its lobby. The words of poets Elizabeth Bishop, Allen Ginsberg, Langston Hughes, and Walt Whitman have been chosen for the display, and others may be added in the future. The piece was collaboratively designed by the artist Jenny Holzer and Klara Silverstein, the wife of World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein.

The five-foot-tall words will appear on a 65-by-14-foot screen covering a structurally fortified wall that will also act as a blast shield in case of a terrorist attack. The $700 million building, which is located on the northern edge of the Ground Zero site in lower Manhattan, is scheduled to open in May.