Michael Arad's design for a 9/11 Memorial at the World Trade Center site, titled "Reflecting Absence," was selected by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation from among more than 5,000 entries submitted in an international competition held in 2003. Mr. Arad joined the New York firm of Handel Architects as a Partner in April 2004, and has since then worked on realizing the Memorial design as a member of the firm. A native of Israel, Mr. Arad was raised in that country, the U.K., the United States and Mexico. He earned a B.A. from Dartmouth College in 1994 and a Master of Architecture from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1999. Mr. Arad became a resident of New York City following his studies, taking a position with Kohn Pedersen Fox, where he worked on major projects including Union Station Tower (a mixed-use 108-story skyscraper in Hong Kong) and Espirito Santo Plaza, a 37-story tower in Miami that won the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects’ Design Award Citation in 2001. After three years with KPF, Mr. Arad became an architect in the Design Department of the New York City Housing Authority and was working in that capacity when he designed the 9/11 Memorial. In 2006, Mr. Arad was one of six recipients of the Young Architects Award of the American Institute of Architects. The award honors architects licensed for ten years or fewer “who have shown exceptional leadership and made significant contributions to the profession early in their careers.” Michael Arad lives in New York City with his wife, Melanie Arad Fitzpatrick, and their children.
