SEGD 2010 No. 27 - 41

y Washington standards, the nascent American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial has been a fast-track project. Conventional wisdom says it takes an average of 17 years to navigate the labyrinthine process required to build a federal memorial. Congressional approvals, agency coordination, code compliance, security issues, and arduous design reviews by the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts are just a few of the necessary steps along the path. In 1998 the Disabled Veterans LIFE Memorial Foundation was created to raise funds for a new memorial dedicated to the 3 million American veterans who live with the disabilities they suffered while serving their country. If all goes as planned, the idea conceived by Florida philanthropist Lois Pope will be brought to fruition on a site near the U.S. Capitol in 2011 and the memorial will be dedicated in 2012, just 14 years later. The memorial’s design is the vision of Michael Vergason Landscape Architects Ltd. (Alexandria, Va.), which in 2003 won the foundation’s competition for the memorial design. Vergason and the foundation staff are working with a multidisciplinary team that includes architects Shalom Baranes Associates (Washington, D.C.), public artist Larry Kirkland (Washington, D.C.), and environmental graphic design ﬁrm Cloud Gehshan (Philadelphia). Universal appeal To understand the challenges of giving form and materiality to a memorial, it’s important to understand the diversity of the interest groups involved. The American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial will honor the 3 million living disabled veterans as well as those from previous and future wars and conﬂicts. In addition, it represents 50-plus veterans groups, from high-proﬁle organizations such as the Disabled American Veterans, American Legion, and VFW, to smaller groups representing individual conﬂicts. It will also represent a wide array of disabilities, from those that are visible to those whose effects aren’t obvious to others. The Iraq War, for example, has been characterized by injuries such as limb amputations and traumatic brain injuries. Post-traumatic stress and other mental disabilities suffered as a result of war are now far outnumbering the more physically obvious injuries. “Our paramount objective has always been that ALL veterans must be able to see themselves reﬂected in this memorial,” says Rick Fenstermacher, COO of the Disabled Veterans LIFE Memorial Foundation. So just as the memorial design has had to earn the approval of a host of stakeholders in Washington, it also has been developed in partnership with the veterans’ groups. Of course, the memorial’s largest audience will be the millions of visitors who are not disabled veterans, or their family members or friends. “Disability as a topic creates a fairly high level of discomfort for the world that doesn’t live it directly,” says Michael Vergason. “In some ways it’s psychologically more difﬁcult for people who are outside it than for those actually engaged with it.” Balancing the needs of those two audiences—creating a memorial that is neither too literal nor too abstract—was the project’s unspoken imperative. Living memorial In spite of the changes that have been made to Vergason’s original concept over the years, as well as changes to the site itself in response to security concerns, it retains the essence his team proposed: a living memorial that changes daily and with the seasons, provides a gathering place for veterans, and is a permanent expression of the country’s gratitude for their service and sacriﬁces. The concept has evolved during seven years of collaboration, eight design reviews by the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, three hearings before the National Capital Planning Commission, and ongoing coordination with the National Park Service (the memorial’s landlord), the U.S. Access Board, the Architect of the Capitol, and numerous other stakeholders. The ﬁnal design was approved by the Commission of Fine Arts last July. Strength and vulnerability Arriving through the northern entrance off the National Mall, most visitors will ﬁrst encounter the memorial’s primary focal point: a starshaped fountain with an eternal ﬂame hovering over its center. The points of the star represent the ﬁve branches of the U.S. military, and water from the fountain spills into a large reﬂecting pool bordered by gingko and bald cypress trees. “The star is the public ‘thank you,’ the place of ceremony and celebration,” says Beata Corcoran, Vergason project coordinator. From the fountain, visitors will move along the water’s edge to the “Wall of Gratitude,” a 200-ft-long white granite wall that will bear the name of the memorial in large V-cut letters carved into the granite. Quotations from Presidents Washington and Eisenhower will be inscribed on the wall in smaller lettering, and the western entrance, which bisects the wall, will also bear the memorial’s name. At the southern end of the triangle, a third major element will feature the voices of disabled veterans themselves. Three staggered walls consisting of a total of 48 laminated glass panels, each 8.5-ft. high by 4-ft. wide, will include etched quotations, photographic images, and four bronze sculptured silhouettes. Opposite top: Early sketches for the memorial featured the star as a central icon and gathering place. Opposite: The Americans Disabled for Life Memorial will feature a starshaped fountain with an eternal ﬂame hovering over its center. The ﬁve points of the star represent the branches of the U.S. military. Above: The ﬁnal design retains the star as a focal point, but adds a 200-ft. granite “Wall of Gratitude” (left) and three staggered glass walls (bottom) that will carry the memorial’s interpretive message. Vergason’s initial concept was driven strongly by the physicality of the site, a wedge-shaped, almost 2-acre property at the southeast corner of the National Mall, about ¼ mile from—and importantly, in full view of—the U.S. Capitol. “If there’s a single aspect of the site that drove the design and continues to, it’s the strong visual connection to the Capitol,” says Vergason. “The events that happen there have direct impact on the quality of disabled veterans’ lives.” segdDESIGN 41

SEGD 2010 No. 27

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