Marlon Blackwell Architects has been selected as the designer of an important new memorial to veterans and service members lost during America’s decades-long War on Terror on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
The Arkansas-based firm was announced as the project’s lead following a search process that began last summer with submissions from 177 different U.S. and international competitors. Its development will be guided by a newly-created Design Advisory Council (DAC) comprised of Gold Star family members, veterans, and "other stakeholders." The project was commissioned by the nonprofit Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation, which was first founded in 2015.
The foundation’s President and CEO Michael “Rod” Rodriguez complemented the designer’s “ability, credibility, and humility to lead the design of an inclusive and reverent Memorial,” adding “Marlon’s proven track record as a world-class designer, combined with his personal experiences in a family with a history of military service, will contribute to a design that serves as a lasting tribute to the courage and sacrifice of all who have served in the Global War on Terrorism — especially those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.”
Considering the significance of its place and the history of the National 9/11 Memorial as a backdrop for the new project, the firm will likely face a considerable amount of outside scrutiny in the delivery of a memorial whose subject matter is difficult to unlink from the charged politics of the era. The DAC says they will ensure a design that “reflects the experiences of all who have served and sacrificed.” The task now is for its architect to deliver something that is deeply respectful of their experiences while retaining its poignancy and palatability to a dissociative and still broadly critical American public.
For his part, Blackwell said: “It’s a great and humble honor for our firm to design the Global War on Terrorism Memorial. It is a profound opportunity to provide a place to honor all those who have served and sacrificed to defend our country against terrorism, along with the many individuals and families who have been impacted by this conflict with no clear end in sight. Our firm will create a place of reverence, reflection, and restoration which fulfills the Foundation’s vision and mission.”
No timelines or further project details have been made available at press time.
11 Comments
this needs to be in the spirit of the vietnam memorial, not some triumphal bs. i hope MBA are the right firm for the job.
It needs to somehow show how the war on terror was utilized to create a surveillance state and erode the liberties of American citizens. And, to not sugar coat the mass civilian casualties. The Vietnam memorial does a good job of honoring soldiers while also acknowledging the scar that the war was on the nation. This needs to do something similar.
jlax I agree with you 100%
Excellent, MBA is a great firm and I am sure they will design a well considered memorial.
This is a bad idea. Coming from this gen-x, whose father served in Vietnam, never has a war been this unpopular, misguided, and devastating to regions, a peoples, and planet such as the past 21 years. Fucking terrible.
Yes, speaking of unethical architects and firms, Philip Johnson's "I am a whore" rings so true.
The Vietnam Memorial is formally called the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It's a memorial to those who served and died, which is why it is nearly universally accepted. It defined a specific, recognizable event and it took no sides. It also put a cap on a very difficult decade in this country, helping give closure. This move feels like a posture towards something else. Why isn't it called the Veterans of the Global War on Terrorism Memorial?
And I'm not sure exactly what the global war on terror is—which conflicts where and when, who was involved, who might yet be added to the list. Surely it is not over, surely it will reappear elsewhere, anywhere. The memorial feeds free floating anxiety, maybe paranoia, against unknown, unnamed foes who will have to be countered, those whom we perceive to not be us. The dominant word in its name is not peace or remembrance, but terror.
“the global war on terror” is a clever marketing slogan by the military industrial complex to justify an open ended war without a specific target. It’s intentionally vague.
I respectfully disagree, in that this in an opportunity to speak to the war’s cost. That’s the genius of Lin’s memorial; it allows one to see themselves in the memorial, linking us to the tragedy of so many lives lost. If done correctly, this is an opportunity to remind the country of the costs of war. That would be a worthwhile endeavor.
How about this, you can have the memorial if we can make the Afghan and Iraqi people whole again, bring those who want to emigrate, those promised asylum, and burn GITMO to the ground? How about we do that first, then jail Bush/Cheney.
We do not need a memorial about a war that was conjured up by the Bush administration as a cover to impliment regime change for economic ends.
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