WWI MEMORIAL
| COMPETITION | WASHINGTON DC |
In commemoration of Veterans Day, and Armistice Day, the proposal for a World War I memorial competition in Pershing Park, DC celebrates American lives lost in battle.
Every day from dawn to dusk, 116,516 shadows visit the park, one for each American life lost in the First World War. The shadows narrate the realities of war and bask in the optimism of the future. The park sets the context for the shadows' arrival and departure and their ephemeral presence.
The park is a field with an outer ring of linden trees and an inner ring of sakura trees, a reflection of peace and new beginnings. The trees are planted in rows aligning with the Washington Monument and the US Capitol. The memorial plaza is located in this landscape, it opens up to the Sherman Monument to the West, Pershing Memorial, and Freedom Plaza to the East. A canopy of 116,516 crosses in a glass enclosure floats above the plaza, a halo in the park.
Every visitor to the memorial takes on a journey to see the light through the shadows, through sacrifices. The mood is not of nostalgia, but of honor and hope. The proposal elevates the sacrifices, making all visitors look up with respect, in awe, and watch the rhythmic shadows in remembrance.
The memorial is a place of dialogue between the shadows from the past, visitors of the present, and the landscape of the future.