The National Capital Planning Commission may like the out-of-the box designs famed architect Frank Gehry has in store for the planned Eisenhower Memorial on Independence Avenue. But that doesn’t mean everyone’s hopping on board.
Monday night, the National Civic Arts Society announced its choice for the memorial’s design.
The arts society announced the rival design competition in the winter, around the time the planning commission heard a presentation by Gehry on his concept for the memorial. Gehry’s idea features nearly 80-foot-tall translucent panels that act as a border to the roughly 3-acre memorial site. The panels would act as outdoor “tapestries,” suspended by large columns and hung high enough to allow visitors to walk beneath.
Gehry’s stainless steel panels could depict black-and-white etchings ranging from a portrait of Eisenhower to landscapes reminiscent of his boyhood home in Kansas. Two 100-foot-wide panels would face Independence Avenue, providing an anchor on both sides of the memorial, which would be landscaped with trees and grass. A longer panel would stretch across the back of the memorial, obscuring much of the Department of Education building.
The concept had its detractors (including the Department of Ed) but commissioners noted they liked the uniqeness of the idea.
The design by competition winner Daniel Cook fits in more with the classical designs of D.C. memorials (Lincoln comes to mind, for one).
You be the judge — Cook’s design is pictured here; you can find a link to Gehry’s design here.
