I’m in DC for the AIA Convention and, it turns out, just in time for a dust-up over Frank Gehry’s proposed design for the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial. Gehry’s office just unveiled revisions that address some of the Eisenhower family’s complaints regarding the character of the statues (now changed to focus more on Eisenhower’s accomplishments) and the huge metal screens that frame the four-acre site (unchanged from the original proposal).
I found the original scheme, which centered on a statue of Eisenhower as a barefoot boy, curious, but I’m open-minded about that kind of thing. What kills the whole thing for me is its grotesque scale, and that’s not going to change. It’s been the same story with all the recent memorials: FDR, Korean War, WWII. They’re all gigantic, walk-in dioramas that give the Mall the air of a dumbed-down historical theme park. –b.d.s.
