Eisenhower Memorial / Frank Gehry

Mar 2010

By David Basulto — Filed under: Awarded Competitions ,Monuments and Memorials , Frank Gehry, USA

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Last year Frank Gehry won the design competition for the Eisenhower Memorial, which included six other firms (Perkins & Will, Krueck & Sexton, Rogers Marvel Architects, Moshe Safdie & Associates, Natoma Architects and PWP Landscape Architecture). After that, the firm was asked to produce three options for the members of the Eisenhower Memorial Commision to choose from, from which the final design was chosen a few days ago.

LA Time’s Culture Monster has more info about the project:

The design, which Gehry and his colleagues will flesh out in the months to come, combines a grove of oak trees, two parallel colonnades of limestone pillars and loosely piled limestone walls carved with sculptural reliefs — elements common to all three proposals — with a series of woven steel-mesh tapestries that will feature images of Eisenhower and his presidency. There is a gap in the colonnade as it runs along Independence, creating an opening framing views of the Capitol and also marking an informal pedestrian entry into the memorial site.

While the oak trees should provide plenty of shade — along with pockets of contemplative space — the tapestries will give much of the memorial the feeling of an expansive outdoor stage set. Gehry came up with the idea for the steel-mesh panels while exploring the tapestry collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where his firm has been working on an expansion.

More images after the break:

* Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.

About David Basulto: Graduate Architect. Co Founder and Executive Editor of ArchDaily.com. Architecture geek.

Cite:
Basulto , David . "Eisenhower Memorial / Frank Gehry" 30 Mar 2010. ArchDaily. Accessed 22 Feb 2012. <http://www.archdaily.com/54641>

Comments (20)
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Links to this entry (2)

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Dustin says:

Hey, Gehry is more than a one trick horse, it would be nice to see more about this project.

# March 30, 2010 at 11:54

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O. ARQUITECTOS SRS says:

RT @archdaily: Eisenhower Memorial / Frank Gehry http://archdai.ly/9SlHne

# March 30, 2010 at 12:54

Johnny says:

You can see two other competition team designs here:

http://www.rogersmarvel.com/Eisenhower.html
http://www.ksarch.com/

# March 30, 2010 at 14:06

PWN says:

Thanks.
Knowing what I know, I would have to go with Kreuck + Sexton’s submission.

# March 30, 2010 at 16:42

What is it that you know PWN?

Krueck + Sexton design, while stronger than Gehry’s, (and even more Gehryish than Gehry’s), is too womb-like for a man like Ike.

# March 30, 2010 at 21:05

Tosh says:

I don’t get it.. but it doesn’t look like Frank Gehry’s work.. too peaceful and regular as if..

# March 30, 2010 at 14:42

Can we see the other submissions? Even the competition web site does not show the work. How Democratic is that?

# March 30, 2010 at 14:53

Christian213 says:

Oh Gehry, the best is yet to come.

# March 30, 2010 at 15:38

christopher says:

i just puked in my mouth. even the greats can’t design anything decent for DC. what IS this? mesh imagery? is this a shopping-mall kiosk? THIS is what memorializes Ike? the president who’s era defined so much of what America’s image is today? is it a play on drive-in movie screens? park your hod-rod with your chick and watch the Ike Show?

where are you going to import the Avatar Tree Of Life from? see you in 150 years when that oak tree is actually big…

# March 30, 2010 at 15:43

juan says:

Are we back on postmodernism?, This is not really the best of Gehry, in fact I believe, he’s not very good at urban design, planning or anything involving the public realm

# March 30, 2010 at 19:45

Nickelbizzle says:

We need to start a crusade to stop this design. It’s awful.

# March 31, 2010 at 14:57

Samuel says:

Rogers + Marvel’s proposal was a beautiful piece of thought and it’s a shame it didn’t get further.

This is…Well I don’t know what this is, but it’s not contemporary, and I wonder if it will simply be lost in the wash of monuments around D.C.

# March 30, 2010 at 18:09

nolya says:

finally, Gehry could make a building that is not seem like his another works..

# March 31, 2010 at 04:22

Brian says:

I laughed out loud at the comment regarding the inspiration for steel mesh panels coming from a museum visit. The parking structures at Santa Monica Place (a mall) were covered in mesh with the name of the mall overlayed in additional mesh. Fortunately that warehouse of a structure was completely re-done recently; the parking structures remained and were also given a facelift.

It’s neither new nor original but an updated re-hash of projects he did in the 80′s before his iconic Disney Hall design.

# February 21, 2012 at 16:58

carlos says:

i do not understand completely.

i need plans and sections to understand it fully.

but i love Gehry’s work (most of it).

# March 31, 2010 at 12:34

claudem says:

hahaha nice 1st of april joke. now show us the real memorial cummon…

# March 31, 2010 at 13:47

someone good says:

I like it and don’t understand the lamentation around it. Interesting, simple, original…

# July 8, 2010 at 05:59

aa says:

i like it for the most part. it is simple and dignified. however i wish the material characteristics of the columns were in line with the rest of the memorials. it would help to visually connect the plan with its historical environment.

# February 19, 2012 at 11:54

12:46 PM Mar 30th

Actualizacion FEEDS

ArchDaily: Eisenhower Memorial / Frank Gehry http://bit.ly/daC50o

12:52 PM Mar 30th

Architecture+Molding

Eisenhower Memorial / Frank Gehry: © Gehry & Partners
Last year Frank Gehry won the design competition for the Ei… http://bit.ly/asrqZd

12:58 PM Mar 30th

Adrielle Slaugh

1:13 PM Mar 30th

Douglas Murphy

Bloody hell! Gehry goes both Aldo Rossi-style neo-classical, AND trendy eclectic perforated facade… http://tinyurl.com/yct2qp8