Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Eisenhower Memorial Designed

The Eisenhower Memorial Commission unanimously chose renowned architect Frank Gehry to design the Eisenhower Memorial. The tribute to President Eisenhower will open on the National Mall in 2015.

The memorial will be the seventh presidential memorial in U.S. history and the first one to be built since the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial opened 13 years ago in 1997.  The memorial will be built on a four-acre piece of land south of the Mall between 4th and 6th Streets, close to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The building is estimated to cost between $90 million and $110 million.

The design mixes traditional and contemporary styles and will be a landscaped plaza that shows the landscape of Maryland Avenue and views of the Capitol.

The “Eisenhower Square” deviates from Gehry’s curvilinear style and will be lined by huge limestone columns. The center of the square will feature a semicircular space made of large stone blocks and with a grove of oak trees where visitors can gather.

The memorial will also display several parts of Eisenhower’s life on large memorial tapestries of woven stainless steel mesh supported by a limestone colonnade.

“The approach to the design was to create a cohesive and important civic space and urban monument in the heart of the capital region that provides a quiet and contemplative space for learning about the vast accomplishments of President Eisenhower,” Gehry said of his design plan on www.eisenhowermemorial.org, the memorial’s official Web site.

Congress created the Eisenhower Memorial Commission in 1999 to organize the development of the memorial. The Commission consists of 12 bipartisan members – four senators, four Representatives and four private citizens.

Eighty-one-year-old Frank Gehry has designed many well-known buildings, such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. “

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