• Proposed Design (Images)
• Credits

Design Challenge

The challenge of this design was to create a dignified landmark appropriate to the magnitude of one of the most devastating social and health emergencies of modern times. The challenge particular to this competition mandate was that the site offered for this landmark - a section of asphalt paving beside a 1,400 foot-long ocean pier - was in itself ostensibly unfitting for the placement of such a significant landmark.

Design Solution

The solution for the competition entry was to reject the site offered by the competition organizers and to use instead an adjacent site - the 1,400 foot-long pier itself - as an artifact that is transformed into a significant memorial through a slow process of transformation that metaphorically parallels the evolution of the epidemic. The evolution of the "memorial pier' is chronicled on the attached pages that form a booklet that is the competition entry.

A Note about Architecture in the Public Realm

While most of my work is for private clients, I have for the past decade pursued public commissions by entering competitions that are often organized by federal and municipal agencies. I have particular interests in public commemorative landscapes that respond to current political issues that surround particular interest groups. While the architectural proposal presented here was disqualified for suggesting that the proposed site for the memorial was inadequate and another site be chosen, I believe it represents well my attitudes towards design in the public realm.