The Eisenhower Memorial in Context

Paul Knight, writing for his blog, has some thoughts on the controversial Eisenhower Memorial:

After studying Frank Gehry’s design and the counter proposals from the National Civic Art Society, I noticed that something was missing–context. All the proposals had the architecture (for better or for worse) but most were missing the larger context of urbanism. Most of the designs simply rendered the memorial as a plaza for the Education Building. The last thing Washington, DC needs is another plaza.

What follows is a well considered and compelling urban design thesis for how the memorial site should be treated and how the memorial provides an opportunity to fundamentally improve the urban experience of the whole neighborhood.