Special Event: DesignDC: Memorials for the Future session

The nation’s capital offers a rich commemorative landscape filled with monuments and memorials that tell the stories of our country in a local, national, and global context while also evoking a sense of national heritage and identity. However, the existing commemorative process has resulted in projects that are increasingly land intensive and thematically similar. It is often costly and time-consuming, limiting opportunities to groups or individuals with significant resources, and under representing many components of American history and culture.
 
In 2016, the National Park Service and NCPC partnered with the Van Alen Institute to conduct the Memorials of the Future ideas competition. The competition considered how to incorporate more inclusive and representative subject matter; create expanded and new materials and media; develop temporary, ephemeral, and event-driven approaches; and provide concepts for greater accessibility and integration with surrounding communities. Four teams of design professionals were selected to explore these new concepts within Washington’s commemorative landscape.
 
The DesignDC panel will examine Washington’s existing commemorative landscape, discuss methods to advance a framework for the planning and design of memorials in the 21st century, and explore the concepts generated by the design competition in creating new opportunities for commemoration.
 
Panel Members:

• Marcel Acosta, Executive Director, National Capital Planning Commission
• Jessica Lax, Associate Director of Competitions, Van Alen Institute
• Julie Rhoad, President & CEO, The NAMES Project Foundation
• Gay Vietzke, Superintendent, National Mall and Memorial Parks, National Park Service