Landscape Architect Articles

WW1 Memorial Design Selected for Pershing Park in D.C. 03-30-16 | News

WW1 Memorial Design Selected for Pershing Park in D.C.
''Weight of Sacrifice'' Features 137-Foot Long Wall that
''Gradually Slips into the Earth''

Pershing Park is located at 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. In late 2014, the federal government designated the park as the location for a national WWI Memorial. "The Weight of Sacrifice" submission by lead designers Joe Weishaar and sculpture Sabin Howard is the winning design for the national WWI Memorial Competition. Among the design elements is a "Wall of Remembrance" with 23 figurative relief sculptures depicting the transformation of civilians into soldiers, along with their personal narratives.
*Photos courtesy U.S. World War I Centennial Commission*

The World War I Centennial Commission in Washington, D.C., www.worldwar1centennial.org has announced "The Weight of Sacrifice" submission by lead designers Joe Weishaar and sculpture Sabin Howard is the winner of the two-stage design competition for a national WWI memorial for Pershing Park in Washington, D.C. The winning project team also includes GWWO Inc., Phoebe Lickwar Landscape Architect, Henry Adams LLC, Keast & Hood and VHB. Baltimore-based GWWO will be the architect of record as the project moves forward.

The U.S. World War I Centennial Commission received 360 entrants, which were narrowed down to five in August 2015. The commission was created by an act of Congress in 2013, and comprises 12-members, appointed by the president, Senate and House leaders, the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the National World War I Museum.

Joe Weishaar is a 25 year old architect working for Brininstool + Lynch in Chicago. Weishaar enlisted New York–based classical sculptor Howard Sabin to render his vision for the design competition. Sabin studied at the New York Academy of Art. The relief sculptures he developed with Weishaar include a diverse set of scenes from the front to the home front. "Along the north and south faces we see the emblazoned words of a generation gone by," explain the designers. The 137-foot long wall "gradually slips into the earth, drawing their wisdom with them. Around the sculpted faces of the monument the remembrance unfolds. Each cubic foot of the memorial represents an American soldier lost in the war; 116,516 in all. Upon this unified mass spreads a verdant lawn. This is a space for freedom built upon the great weight of sacrifice."

Howard worked with models in authentic WWI uniforms to complete the planning. Howard and Weishaar composed a long narrative of the war that is read as visitors navigate the memorial.

It was back in 1957 that Congress designated the plot of land at 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW to become Pershing Square, in honor of John Pershing, General of the Armies during WWI. Years of inactivity followed, but eventually a Pershing statue by Robert White was erected, along with memorial walls.

Pershing Park was built in 1981, and was the design of landscape architects M. Paul Friedberg, FASLA, and Oehme van Sweden & Associates. In late 2014, the federal government designated the park as the location for a national WWI Memorial.

The World War I Centennial Commission plans to build the memorial with private donations. But as the commission's public affairs officer Chris Isleib noted, ""?(R)? even if we get the perfect design we can't build the memorial without support. The veterans of WW1 earned their own memorial, and we can build it for them." Fundraising information is at https://tinyurl.com/hu7sn8s