The Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation (GWOTMF) has selected the architecture firms to design the Global War on Terrorism Memorial, which is to be built on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
The firms selected are as follows: Marlon Blackwell Architects, BAU_Butzer Architects and Urbanism, James Corner Field Operations, Kengo Kuma and Associates, and Rogers Partners Architects + Urban Designers.
The announcement comes after the foundation’s designer advisory board (DAB) reviewed a slate of seventeen eligible designers presented by the foundation’s board of directors. The foundation chose the seventeen candidates for this round after considering 177 candidates compiled in a collaborative process, with input from partners such as Winstanley Architects and AECOM.
“In April, the foundation entered the design phase of the memorial’s construction process. It was therefore time to make headway toward identifying the designer who will lead a team to create a national place of honor, healing, empowerment, and unity,” says foundation president and CEO Michael “Rod” Rodriguez. “We are confident that each of the remaining candidates are fully capable of bringing their own unique vision to the project, incorporating feedback from Gold Star families and veterans into the memorial’s design, and guiding a team of other artists who will help create this sacred tribute to American heroes. We look forward to making a final designer selection later this summer.”
About GWOTMF and the selected architectural firms
Since 1990, Marlon Blackwell Architects has received more than 120 design awards, including the 2016 Cooper Hewitt National Design Award in Architecture. The firm’s Steven L. Anderson Design Center & Vol Walker Hall at the University of Arkansas, near their headquarters in Fayetteville, won the 2018 National American Institute of Architects (AIA) Honor Award for Architecture.
BAU_Butzer Architects and Urbanism was founded in 2008 by Hans E. Butzer and his wife, Torrey A. Butzer. The Oklahoma-based firm’s award-winning works include the National Native American Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
James Corner Field Operations is a New York-based landscape architecture and urban design firm. Signature projects include the High Line in Manhattan, New York; Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois; and West End Square in Dallas, Texas.
Kengo Kuma founded Kengo Kuma & Associates in 1990, the firm currently holds offices internationally in Paris and Tokyo. The firm’s signature projects include the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in Dundee, Scotland. In 2021, Time named Kuma the world’s most influential architect.
Founded in 2013, New York and Houston-based Rogers Partners Architects + Urban Designers is a firm of architects, urban designers, and landscape architects. The firm’s projects, including the forthcoming redesign of the Constitution Gardens portion of the National Mall, have won dozens of notable architecture awards.
Formed in 2015 by veterans, military spouses, and supportive Americans, the GWOTMF is the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization designated by Congress to lead the effort to plan, fund, and build the National GWOT Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
