Archinect - News

Kent Cooper, architect known for work on Vietnam and Korean War memorials, dies at 91

2018-02-26T15:23:00-05:00

Mr. Cooper began his career in 1958 as overseer for architect Eero Saarinen in the construction of Washington Dulles International Airport. [...] Mr. Cooper was best known for his work on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Korean War Veterans Memorial, dedicated in 1982 and 1995, respectively.

Kent Cooper's architecture firm, Cooper-Lecky, became the architects of record for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. While Maya Lin's now iconic design for the memorial was chosen as the competition winner in 1981, Lin was an architecture student at the time and not a licensed architect. "Lin was given a job in the Cooper-Lecky office, but Mr. Cooper supervised the necessary drawings and site specifications for the project to go forward," The Washington Post reports, "and he functioned as frontman in dealing with the federal Fine Arts Commission, which had selected Lin’s winning proposal, Lecky said."

Salon revisits how Maya Lin won Vietnam War Memorial competition by breaking its biggest rule

2017-10-02T14:12:00-04:00

The most important rule was that entries be non-political. They were to express no opinion whatsoever about the rightness or wrongness of the Vietnam War itself.

As the article points out, May Lin's design of a series of slabs were conceived by Lin as dominos falling—a reference to the "domino theory," prominent from the 50s to the 80s, that posited that if one country in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect. With the names of those dead from the war etched on, the memorial's foundation "was a brilliantly devastating political commentary on the Vietnam War: that the 'kids' of Vietnam took a dizzying ride on a series of falling dominos to their collective death."

In honor of Veterans Day, respecting and celebrating our veterans through architecture

2014-11-11T18:33:00-05:00

In honor of Veterans Day 2014, Archinect put together a collection of memorials and architectural projects devoted to U.S. veterans.

Architecture for Recovery: IDEO and Michael Graves Design a Home for Disabled Military Veterans: The Wounded Warrior homes aim to personalize and make accessible veterans' living spaces, to help adapt back to life at home.

D.C. Breaks Ground on Housing for Homeless Vets: Nearly half of the complex's mixed-income and affordable units will be reserved for homeless vets, with onsite facilities for case managers and social workers to engage with tenants.

Designing for Seniors and Soldiers, Toward a "Silver" Architecture: Michael Graves' designs for the Wounded Warrior homes align with geriatrician Louise Aronson's desire to create a new architectural style for the elderly.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Turns 25: Maya Lin's design is now in its 32nd year.

Veterans Day also gives us a chance to reflect on how we historicize war and those involved, begging the que...

Which is it, both? Meanwhile...

2012-04-09T21:30:00-04:00

It is still far and away the greatest memorial of modern times—the most beautiful, the most heart-wrenching, the most subtle, and the most powerful. It’s also the most abstract, which makes it even more miraculous that it was built in a nation that generally prefers symbols more along the lines of the Lincoln Memorial.

Reacting to the news that The New Yorker's influential architecture critic Paul Goldberger, was moving to another magazine (although both are owned by Condé Nast) Vanity Fair, some have wondered whether Eulogies For Architecture Criticism (are) Not Far Behind. Meanwhile, others have seen it as a sign The Architect Critic Is Dead and confirmation that in this era of digital abundance, in which the profession has witnessed a "'sea change' in the conception of architecture", the new critic "must be a reporter. And an activist one at that."

Meanwhile, Paul Goldberger found the time to contribute a short and thoughtful piece on the Reflected Grief of Maya Lin’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial, for the April 2012 Issue of Vanity Fair.

Previously on Archinect: Paul Goldberger Leaves New Yorker for Vanity Fair, Will Not Be Replaced