The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) voted 10-1 today to give preliminary approval to the latest revision to the design by Frank Gehry, FAIA, for the proposed Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial in Washington, D.C. As the Washington Business Journal reported, the vote followed an NCPC staff recommendation that the board approve the revisions.
The latest scheme, submitted by Gehry Partners in September, contains only a single woven-metal tapestry depicting the landscape of Eisenhower’s childhood home of Abilene, Kansas—down from the three proposed when Gehry Partners released initial designs in 2010, after winning the competition to design the memorial the year prior. The screens, and the columns that anchor them, have been at the center of the controversy surrounding the design; one of the reasons the NCPC board cited in rejecting a previous iteration of the design in April of this year was that the screens and columns restricted view lines along the Maryland Avenue corridor to the U.S. Capitol. The revisions presented at today’s meeting sought to answer those concerns.
In a statement released by the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission following today’s vote, Gehry said: “I’m grateful to the National Capital Planning Commission for its decision, and for its cooperative engagement in resolving the issues.”
After approval by other agencies, the plan will be resubmitted to the NCPC for final plan approval.
