Today, the United States World War One Centennial Commission announced the five finalists for the World War I Memorial Design Competition. The design competition, created by Act of Congress in 2013, received over 350 submissions for a 1.8-acre area located along Pennsylvania Avenue, just to the southeast of the White House. This location is also where the existing Pershing Park, designed by landscape architecture firms M. Paul Friedberg and Partners and Oehme, van Sweden, stands—and is the source of debate for landscape architecture advocates and preservationists who say that the design brief was not sympathetic to the 34-year-old park.
The released designs all call for the demolition of Pershing Park.
The winning design is slated to be built by Nov. 11, 2019, which will be the 100th Armistice Day since the end of the war.
Check out the five contenders the commission selected below, and learn more about them in ARCHITECT’s Project Gallery.
Submittal 0013
Plaza to the Forgotten War by Andrew Cesarz of Johnsen Schmaling Architects
Submittal 0037
World War One Memorial Concept by Devin Kimmel of Kimmel Studio
Submittal 0077
The Weight of Sacrifice by Joseph Weishaar
Joseph Weishaar
Submittal 0263
An American Family Portrait Wall in the Park by Luis Collado, Jose Luis de la Fuente, Jose Luis Perez-Griffo, Ignacio Espigares, Marta Bueno, Shoko Nakamura, and STL Architects
Submittal 0329
Heroes’ Green by Maria Counts and Counts Studios
