Berkeleyan

'The Importance of Remembering'
CED highlights designers' role in the creation of high-profile public memorials

By Cathy Cockrell, Public Affairs | 31 March 2005

Beginning with the stone circles, pyramids, arches, imperial mausoleums, and obelisks of ancient times, the design and construction industries have always done a brisk business in structures memorializing great men and women, great wars, and great acts of bravery and infamy. In April, the College of Environmental Design plans to highlight designers' role in helping humanity honor its past, with an evening event on "The Importance of Remembering" and a three-week exhibition of design proposals from the National AIDS Memorial Design Competition.

Two standout designs Read more about the CED finalists in the National AIDS Memorial and the Flight 93 Memorial design contests.

On Wednesday, April 6, as part of its 2005 Architecture Lecture Series, CED will bring together three National AIDS Memorial jurors: Professor of Landscape Architecture Walter Hood; Reed Kroloff, architecture dean at Tulane University; and Ken Ruebush, co-chair of the National AIDS Memorial. The panel of judges in that competition considered 201 proposals, from 21 states and 24 countries, for a design to deepen the impact of the seven-acre AIDS Memorial Grove in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. (The winning design, by a New York team, was announced last Wednesday.)

The lecture and panel discussion, set for 7 p.m. in 112 Wurster, promises a thoughtful and illuminating dialogue on memorials and what's involved in judging a major design contest. Making the competition process more open, says architecture lecturer Roddy Creedon, is of great interest to CED students, faculty, and alumni - whose work has gained prominence in several recent competitions for high-profile memorials.

The campus community and the public can also view designs submitted for the National AIDS Memorial Design Competition - and imagine the challenges jurors face when called upon to weigh the relative merits of hundreds of creative designs. The design proposed by CED affiliates, and those of the four other finalists, are among the plans featured in the exhibition, on view April 4 to 24 in 108 Wurster. The lecture and exhibition are cosponsored by the Arcus Endowment, which supports CED activities exploring the relationship between gender, sexuality, and the built environment.