KAMJZ Proposes to Preserve Pershing Park with an Overhead Memorial

KAMJZ Proposes to Preserve Pershing Park with an Overhead Memorial

Earlier this month, after viewing the contenders in the US World War I Centennial Commission’s competition to redesign the National World War I Memorial in Washington DC, organizations like The Cultural Landscape Foundation began to began to voice their opinion regarding the reach of the competition. With the cultural importance of the site in mind, such organizations had hoped that the redesign would maintain the existing Pershing Park, but were disappointed to discover that the majority of the competition’s design proposals seek to demolish the existing landscape.

Although left off of the competition’s shortlist, KAMJZ Architects’ proposal for the World War I memorial addresses these concerns by leaving Pershing Park almost completely intact. Leaving alone the park’s seating areas, agora, and landscaping, the design proposal unifies the park by adding an outer ring of trees “along the borders of the site [to] provide an acoustic barrier from the noisy adjacent streets.”

KAMJZ Proposes to Preserve Pershing Park with an Overhead Memorial - CityscapeKAMJZ Proposes to Preserve Pershing Park with an Overhead Memorial - Image 3 of 7KAMJZ Proposes to Preserve Pershing Park with an Overhead Memorial - Image 4 of 7KAMJZ Proposes to Preserve Pershing Park with an Overhead Memorial - Image 5 of 7KAMJZ Proposes to Preserve Pershing Park with an Overhead Memorial - More Images+ 2

KAMJZ Proposes to Preserve Pershing Park with an Overhead Memorial - Image 3 of 7
Courtesy of KAMJZ Architects
KAMJZ Proposes to Preserve Pershing Park with an Overhead Memorial - Cityscape, Windows
Courtesy of KAMJZ Architects

While the park remains mostly untouched, the centerpiece of KAMJZ's design is the hovering lattice of stacked roofs, which would span over the entirety of the park, creating a visually striking “covered green area in the middle of city center.”

KAMJZ Proposes to Preserve Pershing Park with an Overhead Memorial - Image 4 of 7
Courtesy of KAMJZ Architects
KAMJZ Proposes to Preserve Pershing Park with an Overhead Memorial - Image 5 of 7
Courtesy of KAMJZ Architects

As stated by the architects, “the result is a subtle icon which does not try to compete with other important nearby-located American symbols, but at the same time is attached to the urban tissue by referencing the form of adjacent building heights. By resembling a dissolved surrounding building, it becomes a representation of the impact of WWI on American society.”

KAMJZ Proposes to Preserve Pershing Park with an Overhead Memorial - Windows, Facade
Courtesy of KAMJZ Architects
KAMJZ Proposes to Preserve Pershing Park with an Overhead Memorial - Cityscape
Courtesy of KAMJZ Architects

Notwithstanding its status in the competition, the design proposal thus provides a compelling alternative view on the greater idea of the memorial. Learn more about the project, here.

Charles Birnbaum on the Need to Save DC's Pershing Park

World War I Memorial Competition Finalists Announced

  • Architects

  • Location

    Pershing Park, Washington, DC 20004, United States
  • Main Project Architect

    Maciej Jakub Zawadzki
  • Partners in Charge

    Maciej Jakub Zawadzki, Marek Kuryłowicz
  • Design Team

    Łukasz Wenclewski, Michał Polak, Pablo Otero, Artur Zakrzewski, Lazar Djuric, Sofija Lalovic,Silvia Nigro
  • Photographs

    Courtesy of KAMJZ Architects
  • Location

    Pershing Park, Washington, DC 20004, USA
  • Photographs

    Courtesy of KAMJZ Architects

Project gallery

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Project location

Address:Pershing Park, Washington, DC 20004, United States

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Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this office
Cite: Sabrina Santos. "KAMJZ Proposes to Preserve Pershing Park with an Overhead Memorial" 24 Aug 2015. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/772272/kamjz-proposes-to-preserve-pershing-park-by-building-an-overhead-memorial> ISSN 0719-8884

Courtesy of KAMJZ Architects

KAMJZ 建议采用高架纪念碑来保护潘兴公园

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