Pentagon Memorial

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Pentagon Memorial

Firm

KBAS

Type

Government + Health ›
Landscape + Planning › Public Park

YEAR

2008

BUDGET

$10M - 50M

Shortly after September 11, 2001, a core group of family members related to the 184 individuals whose lives were lost at the Pentagon conceived of and embarked upon a mission to realize a memorial that would honor their loved ones. Eight months later, during the summer of 2002, an international design competition for the Pentagon Memorial was announced. Upon evaluating more than 1,100 entries, the esteemed jury awarded six finalists with a stipend to further refine their proposals. On March 3rd, 2003, KBAS was announced as the unanimous winner. Adjacent to the point of impact of American Airlines Flight 77, the Pentagon Memorial is a place like no other. Inviting personal interpretation on the part of the visitor, the Memorial provokes thought yet does not prescribe what to think or how to feel. Both individual and collective in nature, the Memorial intends to record the sheer magnitude of that tragic day by embedding layers of specificity that begin to tell the story of those whose lives were taken. Organized by a time line based on the ages of these individuals, 184 Memorial Units are uniquely placed along Age Lines parallel with the trajectory of Flight 77– each marking a birth-year, ranging from 1998 to 1930. Highly articulate in its form and placement, the Memorial Unit is the heart of the project, as each Unit demarcates a special place dedicated to each individual. As such, directional orientation inherent to the cantilevered Unit specifies whether an individual was aboard Flight 77 or in the Pentagon at the time of impact. Each individual’s name is engraved at the end of the cantilever, hovering above a pool of water that glows with light at night. Fully designed in a 3-dimensional computer modeling environment and realized through extensive collaborative research and development, components of the Memorial Unit were produced with the use of myriad digital fabrication techniques. Finely finished stainless steel, granite and concrete comprise all material aspects of the Memorial at large, with precise articulation at each Memorial Unit. These Memorial Units are dispersed throughout a tactile, sensory driven environment with all materials contributing to an emphasis on life. A porous stabilized gravel system will not only allow visitors to hear their own footsteps and those of others, but also allows the grove of Paperbark Maple trees to thrive and grow directly through the gravel without protective grates. Consistently shading the Memorial Units, brilliant foliage will create a dynamic canopy of light and color throughout the day and seasons, while elegantly exfoliating bark will register change long into the future. Finally, the Memorial Park is surrounded by a continuous perimeter bench which is backed by a soft border of ornamental grasses – together with the Memorial Units, there is over 2000 linear feet of seating surface creating a comfortable environment for several people or several thousand.