The Eisenhower Memorial by Frank Gehry

[desertpunk]

Wash. Post

Gehry to update DC panel on design for planned Dwight Eisenhower Memorial near National Mall
By Associated Press, Published: October 6





WASHINGTON — Architect Frank Gehry will update a federal planning group Thursday on his design for the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial, which could include unique woven “tapestries” with photographs held up by tall columns.

The effort to build an Eisenhower Memorial in the nation’s capital began more than a decade ago. The group working to build the monument to the 34th president hopes to complete it by 2015 on a site near the National Mall. First, though, federal arts and planning panels must approve the design.



There has been some concern at the National Capital Planning Commission that the design’s 80-foot-tall columns and large see-through tapestries intrude too much on views of the Capitol. Gehry will present design changes to the panel Thursday.

Gehry has said he would like to use tapestries because they have been used historically to tell stories and that’s why he chose to weave the photos in metal. Images for the tapestries have not been selected.

The memorial is planned for a site across the street from the National Air and Space Museum, about a block off the Mall’s grassy expanse. It would include stone sculptures of Eisenhower, engraved quotations and a garden. The site was selected in 2006.

Eisenhower grew up in Kansas and graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He commanded Allied Forces in Europe during World War II, including the D-Day invasion of France. After the war, he was the first NATO commander and became president of Columbia University before running for president in 1952 with the memorable slogan, “I like Ike.” Eisenhower was president from 1953 to 1961.

[...]

The memorial will be Gehry’s first work in Washington. He is famous for his designs of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and numerous other buildings around the world.

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[desertpunk]

The Eisenhower Memorial site near the Smithsonian Air & Space Musem:

[desertpunk]

World Architecture News http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com...pload_id=17730

Eisenhower Memorial in Washington swaps images of war for softer foliage projections of president's Kansas home

Legendary architect Frank Gehry has announced subtle changes to his concept for a memorial to the 34th President of the United States, Dwight Eisenhower, exchanging stark images of the D-Day landings woven into immense panels of metal meshing for softer pictorials of foliage and grain silos, reminiscent of the esteemed figure’s Kansas home in Abilene.

Gehry clarifies: “I’ve read everything I could find about him, and he kept referring to Abilene. He talks about the barefoot boy who went on this odyssey.” The new concepts show that two portions of stainless steel mesh forming an enclosure around the memorial plaza have been removed, opening the space to the passing public and creating a more welcoming, if more exposed volume.

The site for the Eisenhower Memorial was selected in 2005 under the consultation of major architecture film Gensler, and is located a block from the National Mall in Washington DC entitled Eisenhower Square. This location was selected due to its proximity to key institutions the Department of Education, the National Air and Space Museum, Voice of America studios and the Federal Aviation Administration, all of which are connected to President Eisenhower in some way.

A series of mesh tapestries will be supported by a colonnade of limestone 80ft tall, echoing existing memorials to Presidents Lincoln and Jefferson, and a series of sycamore trees native to President Eisenhower’s home in Abilene will branch across the open plaza in place of the oak trees originally planned for the space. Concerns have been raised that the wide panels of metal will reduce the amount of natural light reaching the Department of Education which neighbours the memorial site, however Gehry has reinforced that the transparency of this material will allow the sun’s rays to penetrate the mesh tapestry.

These concepts are still subject to alteration and will face a federal panel in the next few months. Full federal funding has been given for the design period of this $90-$110m project however public/private funding will be sought during the construction phase.

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[spencer114]

Gehry needs to retire.

[JohnFlint1985]

interesting ideas, but I am little bit confused about tapestries. I'd say this is a little bit too much. maybe something more convectional will suit it better?

[CF221]

HORRIBLE... what would Washington say about having this huge worthless piece of "memorial" in his capital city? This is not even interesting or creative!!! It's lie he had nothing else to cntribute and said: let me just submit this huge wall held up by massive, bare concrete pillars and call it a "memorial" to one of the presidents of the Republic, and right next to the Capitol! How suiting... If this is approved I will lose 15 percent of my hope on American creativity, ingenuity, and respect for their own heritage!

EDIT: I guess it was approved... so much for that 15 percent of hope... -___-

[LCIII]

This looks like a miss to me...

[travel2011]

Yes, it is really unhappy, I do not like, hope they could make something more happy... with other colors other than gray....

[James1901]

I still think it is interesting.

The last photo almost looks like chimney stacks, however quite dated!

[jam5]

I think they should drop the whole project since we already have an Eisenhower Memorial, and we drive on it everyday -the Interstate Highway System.

[en1044]

Looks like they're putting it in a bad location.

[CF221]

Originally Posted by en1044

Looks like they're putting it in a bad location.

To me it seems that they're wasting money and concrete on a structure that does not tell me crap about Eisenhower or his character. Even his family is against this design. Why not go for a smaller classical/ more subtle monument?

[diablo234]

Originally Posted by spencer114

Gehry needs to retire.

+1

Honestly I find Frank Gehry to be the most over-rated architect in history.

[pablogarlib]

I think it's ugly!

Those columns remind me of 1970's Bestialism.

[MDguy]

I'm not really grasping why Ghery put now aesthetic value into the memorial

[slimjim]

Originally Posted by diablo234

+1

Honestly I find Frank Gehry to be the most over-rated architect in history.

I could not agree more. I don't understand why anyone would choose him. Boring, dated, and ugly. uggh.

[flugzeug]

That is simply hideous. It looks like something from the early 1970's. Ike would not like.