"The National Ideas Competition is an ideal way to spark new thinking from citizens and professionals about this hugely important symbolic space. With fresh, visionary thought the Washington Monument grounds could one day become the real heart of the nation, not necessarily in the way L’Enfant or the McMillan planners envisioned it but in a new way that speaks to the aspirations of the 21st century.”
— Kirk Savage, Winner of the 2010 Charles C. Eldredge Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in American Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum
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In modern times, the American people have given new life to this grand public space in ways never imagined by past generations.
President Washington had a hand in the founding of the capital with a monument to himself at its heart.
Today the unformed expanse of the 60 acre Monument grounds shows little evidence of the ideas of the past.
Critics complained during construction that a giant obelisk was the wrong symbol for America, and alternatives were proposed.
The WAMO Competition gives us an opportunity to help shape the future with creative ideas.
What are your ideas to make the grounds more welcoming, educational, and effectively used by the public?
Earlier generations imagined a variety of designs for the Monument and its grounds.
Can the Washington Monument grounds be made more welcoming, educational, and effectively used by the public?
Adele Ashkar, ASLA
Landscape Design, Vice Chair
Lisa Benton-Short, Ph.D.
Geography
Kenneth R. Bowling
History
James P. Clark, AIA
Architectural Competitions, Chair
Kent Cooper, FAIA
Architecture
Judy Scott Feldman, Ph.D.
National Mall History
Ellen Goldstein
Executive Director
Richard Longstreth, Ph.D.
American Studies
Kay Murphy
Project Coordination
Albert H. Small
American University
The Catholic University of America
The George Washington University,
Washington DC
Howard University
LearningTimes
National Cathedral School
St. Albans School
University of Delaware
University of Maryland
School or Architecture, Planning
and Preservation
Virginia Polytechnical Institute and
State University (VirginiaTech)
The University of Texas at Austin
Van Alen Institute
Projects in Public Architecture
Virginia Society of the American
Institute of Architects
The Competition Steering Committee would like to acknowledge and thank Rhea George, Director of Marketing and Communications, Virginia Society of AIA, Richmond, for her outstanding design of the Competition poster.
"Courtesy Roger K. Lewis, The Washington Post, March 16, 1991"