New Jack City
October 3rd, 2004, 05:25 PM
NY Newsday
Finalists picked for African burial ground design
By Marc Ferris
October 1, 2004
When a construction crew digging the foundation for a federal office building in lower Manhattan unearthed the remains of 419 enslaved Africans in 1991, the find opened a wound that had never really closed.
But with an effort to find a way to dignify the space finally about to yield results, some healing may be on the way.
Public comment sought
With the five finalists' designs on view around the city through Friday, the public now has a chance to provide thoughts on a fitting commemoration for the African Burial Ground, located at Duane and Elk streets behind an office tower at Broadway and Reade Street.
The final phase of the design competition represents a symbolic step forward for the federal General Services Administration, the agency that commissioned the office tower and was accused of dragging its feet to commemorate the burial ground.
On Oct. 4, 2003, the bones were reinterred after being examined and catalogued by a Howard University lab in Washington, D.C. Officials then began to focus on how to best mark the sliver of land where the memorial will stand.
One of five survives
Together, the GSA and the National Park Service held a competition for the memorial design.
The project, which will include an interpretive center in the skyscraper lobby, is scheduled to be finished next year, said GSA spokesman John McCarthy.
Archaeologists say that the surrounding blocks constitute the largest Colonial-era cemetery for African-Americans and estimate that as many as 20,000 bodies could have been buried over about six acres.
"Every student in the sixth grade can come here and learn who built this city," said Jim Pepper, assistant regional director for the park service.
Designs in competition
The five finalists are:
Ring of Remembrance, by architect Joseph DePace, places a pyramid at the corner of Elk and Duane streets. Black Ipomoea, a western African medicinal plant, blooms within the public square.
Sacred Ground, by Katherine Dean of GroundWorks, includes bronze panels inlaid into the sidewalk that tell the historical narrative of the African Diaspora. Visitors pass through a gateway known as a Spirit Catcher.
The plan by Cheryl McKissack, of McKissack & McKissack, evokes the symbol of a slave ship. Wooden staffs standing in the ground are inspired by the Benin civilization of West Africa.
In the submission by Rodney Leon of AARRIS Architects, an entry chamber opens into the Circle of the Diaspora, a plaza featuring a waist-high wall lined with African symbols. A map of the world with Africa at its center covers the floor.
One feature of the work of Eustace Pilgrim of Eustace Pilgrim & Christopher Davis resembles the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in the nation's capital. Instead of names, African- style masks ornament the wall, which curves along a gently sloping walkway and tapers to a point at a sailing mast.
Renderings of each:
Joseph DePace design
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480036.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480471.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480481.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480482.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480547.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480549.jpg
Katherine Dean, Groundworks Design
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480559.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480582.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480583.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480590.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480594.jpg
Rodney Leon, AARRIS Architects
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480672.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480675.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480677.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480678.jpg
Cheryl McKissack, McKissack & McKissack
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480714.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480776.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480777.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480792.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480795.jpg
Eustace Pilgrim & Christopher Davis
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480844.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480849.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480892.jpg
Which one do you like?
Finalists picked for African burial ground design
By Marc Ferris
October 1, 2004
When a construction crew digging the foundation for a federal office building in lower Manhattan unearthed the remains of 419 enslaved Africans in 1991, the find opened a wound that had never really closed.
But with an effort to find a way to dignify the space finally about to yield results, some healing may be on the way.
Public comment sought
With the five finalists' designs on view around the city through Friday, the public now has a chance to provide thoughts on a fitting commemoration for the African Burial Ground, located at Duane and Elk streets behind an office tower at Broadway and Reade Street.
The final phase of the design competition represents a symbolic step forward for the federal General Services Administration, the agency that commissioned the office tower and was accused of dragging its feet to commemorate the burial ground.
On Oct. 4, 2003, the bones were reinterred after being examined and catalogued by a Howard University lab in Washington, D.C. Officials then began to focus on how to best mark the sliver of land where the memorial will stand.
One of five survives
Together, the GSA and the National Park Service held a competition for the memorial design.
The project, which will include an interpretive center in the skyscraper lobby, is scheduled to be finished next year, said GSA spokesman John McCarthy.
Archaeologists say that the surrounding blocks constitute the largest Colonial-era cemetery for African-Americans and estimate that as many as 20,000 bodies could have been buried over about six acres.
"Every student in the sixth grade can come here and learn who built this city," said Jim Pepper, assistant regional director for the park service.
Designs in competition
The five finalists are:
Ring of Remembrance, by architect Joseph DePace, places a pyramid at the corner of Elk and Duane streets. Black Ipomoea, a western African medicinal plant, blooms within the public square.
Sacred Ground, by Katherine Dean of GroundWorks, includes bronze panels inlaid into the sidewalk that tell the historical narrative of the African Diaspora. Visitors pass through a gateway known as a Spirit Catcher.
The plan by Cheryl McKissack, of McKissack & McKissack, evokes the symbol of a slave ship. Wooden staffs standing in the ground are inspired by the Benin civilization of West Africa.
In the submission by Rodney Leon of AARRIS Architects, an entry chamber opens into the Circle of the Diaspora, a plaza featuring a waist-high wall lined with African symbols. A map of the world with Africa at its center covers the floor.
One feature of the work of Eustace Pilgrim of Eustace Pilgrim & Christopher Davis resembles the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in the nation's capital. Instead of names, African- style masks ornament the wall, which curves along a gently sloping walkway and tapers to a point at a sailing mast.
Renderings of each:
Joseph DePace design
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480036.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480471.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480481.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480482.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480547.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480549.jpg
Katherine Dean, Groundworks Design
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480559.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480582.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480583.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480590.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480594.jpg
Rodney Leon, AARRIS Architects
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480672.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480675.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480677.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480678.jpg
Cheryl McKissack, McKissack & McKissack
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480714.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480776.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480777.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480792.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480795.jpg
Eustace Pilgrim & Christopher Davis
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480844.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480849.jpg
http://www.nynewsday.com/media/photo/2004-10/14480892.jpg
Which one do you like?