It took 2,977 drones to create this stunning 9/11 memorial show. Here’s how they pulled it off

To remember the lives of the 2,977 people killed in the 9/11 attacks 25 years ago, 2,977 drones were arranged in the shape of the original Minoru Yamasaki-designed World Trade Center at full architectural scale for a stunning temporary memorial. It took a lot of planning to make it work.

Called “2,977 Lights Over New York Harbor,” the commemorative public art installation on September 9 was sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and pulling it off required coordination with dozens of agencies. One of the biggest challenges was finding a suitable launch location.

[Image: courtesy Sky Elements Drones]

“We need a lot of space to set the drones down,” Kyle Pivnick, vice president of Texas-based Sky Elements Drones, tells Fast Company, noting that thousands of hours went into finding the right path to bring the memorial to life.

The installation was produced by Sky Elements (which has put on professional drone shows for Formula 1 and Lollapalooza) in partnership with creative director Addison Mehr, Studio Drift, Ideko, designer Yan Paul Dubbelman, and artistic advisers Shigeru Ban and Dean Maltz, with input from 9/11 families, survivors, and first responders.

The installation’s creators needed about 12,000 square feet of flat, open-sky ground, which isn’t easy to find in New York City. Eventually, the U.S. Coast Guard agreed to let the creators use a parking lot at its recruitment office on the southern tip of Manhattan as the staging area.

The show was held for just one night, and it required flight restrictions so there would be no air traffic in the area, as well securing the ground below from people and moving vehicles, which is why it was held over the waterfront instead of the original World Trade Center location.

[Image: courtesy Sky Elements Drones]

Using exactly 2,977 drones, one for each life lost at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the United Airlines crash site in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001, was foundational to the project. But that meant being deliberate about where to fill and add detail when re-creating the Twin Towers, Pivnick says.

“More drones would of course be better to give the towers more detail, but the choice to keep the drone count at 2,977 was paramount,” he says.

[Image: courtesy Sky Elements Drones]

Drone shows are popular for advertising or entertainment events, but for “2,977 Lights Over New York Harbor,” the goal was to create an experience that was reverent and respectful.

The drones first appeared like two upward-swirling helixes before slowly rearranging into the shape of the towers. The helix shape was meant to recall the unbuilt proposal for a World Cultural Center memorial designed by Think that featured two open latticework towers.

By re-creating the towers as tall as they once stood, the installation gave a sense of scale and a feeling that’s larger than life. By using exactly 2,977 drones, the remembrance was poignant and personal.

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