In case you've been wondering about the progress of the September 11 Memorial, to be built at the site of the former World Trade Center, you're not alone.  It's been years since an international design competition among the world's top architects led to a field of imaginative, inspiring designs that aimed to immortalize the towers and the enormous losses of that horrible day.  But in the almost five years since Michael Arad was awarded the job for the ambitious design he titled "Reflecting Absence," a lot has changed.  The budget for the project has been scaled down, and the design modified numerous times to reflect the changing economic climate.

What kind of change?  Well, at the most recent WTC Memorial-related press conference, this time to present the latest modifications to the September 11 Memorial Museum Pavilion, the buzzword appeared to be "appropriate scale" (which we all know means "smaller").   The Pavilion, which serves as a gateway to the Museum, features a continuous room with a sloping floor that connects the ground-level Pavilion and the underground Museum.  It is designed by Oslo, Norway–based architectural firm Snohetta, and is scheduled, like the rest of the complex, to be completed by the 10-year anniversary of the attack in September, 2011.