SEGD 2010 No. 27 - 43

“Light and shadow interacting with the translucent glass and bronze at various times of the day will bring the panels to life and make for a very dramatic, intimate experience,” says public artist Larry Kirkland. After months of exploring how to integrate the glass panels with threedimensional elements, “We realized we could create both complementary and contrasting images and shadows by framing the glass with inverted bronze silhouettes adjacent to the glass, so that when light comes in, the shapes of the cutouts are projected onto the translucent glass.” The materials palette—stone, glass, and bronze—was chosen not only for its visual connection to other Washington memorials, but for its juxtaposition of solidity and transparency, strength and vulnerability. Telling their stories AMERICAN VETERANS DISABLED FOR LIFE MEMORIAL Client: Disabled Veterans LIFE Memorial Foundation Location: Washington, D.C. Design Team: Michael Vergason Landscape Architects Ltd. Michael Vergason (principal in charge), Doug Hayes (senior associate), Beata Corcoran (project coordinator) Cloud Gehshan Associates, Jerome Cloud (principal in charge); Ian Goldberg (senior designer); Matt Cavalier, Steve Ricci (designers); Larry Kirkland Studios, Larry Kirkland (artist/sculptor); Shalom Baranes Associates; History Associates, James H. Lide (senior historian) Images: Michael Vergason Landscape Architects, Cloud Gehshan, Richard C. Latoff (photos) Cloud Gehshan was brought on to the team to develop the interpretive approach and content for the memorial—essentially to determine how best to tell the veterans’ stories. This included research and content development, content design and integration, materials research and development, and presentations to the CFA, NCPC, and other groups. Cloud Gehshan developed the interpretive framework and worked with History Associates, which catalogued the voices, experiences, and memories of disabled veterans across all wars. Early on, says ﬁrm principal Jerome Cloud, “We realized that while disabled veterans’ experiences are as unique and varied as the individuals involved, the best approach to telling their collective story was to focus on the commonalities.” So the team organized content by four journey stages: 1) Pride of Serving, 2) Trauma of Injury, 3) Challenge of Healing, and 4) Discovery of Purpose. Cloud saw Vergason’s choice of glass as “a material of truth, an instrument of disclosure and transparency. We felt glass could liberate and illuminate the veterans’ voices and escape the rigid, disciplinary conﬁnes of masonry.” The team gathered more than 700 soldiers’ accounts and about the same number of photographs, researched them for historical context, and veriﬁed them. Cloud, Corcoran, and Kirkland distilled the quotations down to 80, from which the foundation selected 18. Just six photo images were chosen to be superscaled and encased within the glass walls. The ﬁnal quotations and images were selected for their universal resonance and timelessness, and could represent any war. One photograph that Kirkland calls “The Thousand-Yard Stare” is a close-up of a weary young soldier, eyes glazed over from the exhaustion and stress of combat as he scouts the ﬁeld around him. “If you have the expertise, you could probably tell from his helmet around what time he was ﬁghting. But otherwise, it’s a classic, iconic scene of war.” The interpretive concept was challenging to communicate to the Commission of Fine Arts, but ﬁnally, the team created mock-ups to demonstrate how the bronze and glass elements would be integrated and how light would interact with the panels. In the ﬁnal versions, images will reside between layers of glass, while text will likely be inscribed on various layers of the glass. A model of accessibility One of the project goals was to promote the highest possible accessibility to the site and interpretive media, and to ensure that people with mobility and visual disabilities have a meaningful experience there. Unlike most other Washington memorials, it will be accessible by bus and car, accommodating six disabled parking spaces and a drop-off lane for up to three buses at a time. Braille signage will be coordinated with the National Park Services’ ongoing signage program for the National Mall. The team is also exploring alternative interpretive media, such as cell-phone tours. The foundation’s website includes a virtual tour of the memorial. Bringing it home Design development on the $86 million, privately funded project is complete, and the next phase is construction documentation, says the foundation’s project executive, Barry Owenby. “We still have ﬁnal approvals from the Park Service and the NCPC to go, and we hope to achieve those by late spring this year,” adds Owenby. If all goes as scheduled, roadwork around the site will be completed by the end of 2010, and ground could be broken as early as December 2010. Construction will take about 12 months. Owenby’s optimism is tempered by experience—he was also project executive for the National World War II Memorial and knows well how schedules can be disrupted. But he believes that by Veterans Day 2011 or Memorial Day 2012, the memorial will be complete—and America’s disabled veterans will ﬁnally have a place to gather, remember, and be honored for their service to country. segdDESIGN 43

SEGD 2010 No. 27

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SEGD 2010 No. 27