Transcripts For CSPAN3 World War I Memorial Design Announcement 20160206

His is almost an hour. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is libby oh connell and m proud to serve on the World War One Centennial Commission. Yesterday marked the 240th anniversary of this nations very First Military memorial. On january 25, 1776, the Continental Congress approved the nations First Military memorial which commemorates brigadire general richard montgomery, one of the first generals lost in the american revolution. Since 1776, communities all across the United States have built solemn, poignant tributes to our soldiers and sailors, and airmen, our nurses, and all the people helping back home. Lets remember, without a supportive and helpful home front, no military campaign succeeds. Today, as we gather for this announcement its important to note that we are all in debt to each and every one of them. But for too long here in specific d. C. , one war has been left out of our national consciousness. And as a result, out of our national conversation. Today we take a great step forward in righting that wrong. Today we announce the decision of our World War One Centennial Commission about what team will be chosen to move forward and work with all our stakeholders, to design the National World war one memorial. We are joined by our commission members, many of our exowe fish yo members, some of our friends in congress who have been tireless in championing our cause, as well as others, distinguished speakers from whom you will be hearing soon. I also want to recognize some key partners. The World War One Museum in kansas city and the founding sponsor of the World War One Centennial Commission the Military Museum and library in chicago. They have been indispensible to our work so far and we look forward to the next years with those two inspiring institutions at our side. I just want to mention the pritsger Military Museum and library has been very important by calling matching funds for us. And retired general barry mcgaffry has been such a strong supporter of ours but he cant support us today due to a death in the family so our thoughts him. T to so now why now . Hy this . Why us . Why a memorial . Some of our speakers will answer those questions better than i. But allow me just to hit the igh notes. On the domes sting front, much of how this country is organized socially, politically, economically, is due to world war one. Nutch of the 20th centurys seismic social changes i mean, bigtime social changes from the suffrajists and the Civil Rights Movement on the domes sting to incredibly forward in saveation, medicine, technology, manufacturing, and so much more all of that is also due to world war one. And lets look outward toward the world which is fitting since it is not until world war one that the United States started to look and see itself as a positive agent of change in the world. Pick up any newspaper, watch ny news show, and within minutes you can find a story directly e traced back to world war one. I am talking about todays hot spots. The modern bound riss of the middle east, many of which are the source of so much suffering and violence, these are products of the great war to be more specific iraq and syria are direct products of the war. The sikes peek ot line still debated. Most people here dont know what that is but many do and they remember. And let me tell you they remember in the middle east what that line is. The news we see from the ukraine can be traced back to world war one and on and on. So we still live under the long shadow of the war in so many ways. And it is violetly important that we understand how this war shapes our nation and the world we live in. And yet too few americans do. People should know and 198,000 texans who served in world war one, the 400,000 new yorkers, the 324,000 pennsylvanians, the 200,000 ohioans. Such exemplarry service and so little tribute paid here in the Nations Capital. Many of our commissioners are veterans. And one of them phrases it like this. How can we turn to a young person who is thinking about joining the military and be honest in telling him that or her that their service will always be remembered when here we have a whole generation who suffered worst casualties than vietnam and korean war combined . Yet they have no representation among the great icons of our Nations Capital. If we come together and coordinate a sustained National Tribute to those who served in world war one by building this memorial and restoring world war one memorials across the country, then we can turn to that young person thinking of enlisting and we can be honest in telling them that their service matters. And that it will always be remembered. On the eve of this centennial we must embrace this moment to recognize the world war one generation. We today all of us can restore their legacy and install them in place of honor that is rightfully theirs. Alongside those millions who served in the 20th centurys other great conflict. This is why we are here today and why we are so thrilled that so many of you could join us. To speak further about our efforts, please join me in welcoming Sandra Pershing who serves as one of our senior advisers. Ladies and gentlemen, sandy pershing. [applause] im very honored to be here today. Its important for me and my family as well as the country as we start to Work Together to honor the almost 5 million americans who served during world war one. When my husband Jack Pershing who was the generals grandson was alive, he felt very strongly that there should have been a memorial for all who served in every capacity. And the general had a nice park. But he was all by himself. Nobody ever memorialized the people who fought so hard. And many were dead and maimed. So today we are going to start to restore the honor that has been so long in coming. Father, s grand general pershing, was a very special man. His career spanned from cuba to the philippines, to the border skirmishes with paveno via and he was cited for galantry and bravery. There were many generals who could have been tapped for the signments he had but president s, two president s coming from different parties, elt that pershing was the man. His leadership in europe broke open a deadly stalemate. Having come up through the anks as he did, he was a soldiers general. Hebled generals got too much of the attention and during and after wars it was always at the expense of the infantrymen or marines. Or the the merchant marines. Im thrilled that the design chosing will depict people from of life. It required something from everyone and our modern America Needs to learn how broad and diverse our nations involvement in the war was. Jack pershing of life. , general pershing, i should say, valued deeply the service of all, African American americans, women, countless immigrants who wore our countrys uniform. The volunteer ambulance drivers, the support staff. The nurse. And for us the same sorry, my voice is gone. The same sense of service and National Pride needs to be brought to bear. Listening all for to me. And i am going to introdeuce congressman Emanual Cleaver. [applause] just before i became mayor of kansas city, i did a survey of things around our community that i thought needed to be addressed. And one of them was the Liberty Memorial which i had read about and talked and had conversations about, not because it was known at that time in the 1990s as some majestic memorial. But because of what had happened around it. It had become a crimeinfested area that had a number of murders committed on the ground. And my first act on the morning having been elected mayor was to appoint a man by the name of ali gates as the chair of the kansas city, missouri parks and recreation department. My first appointment. I appointed him and then said to him i want the flame restored on the Liberty Memorial. I found out later that was never a flame. It was actually smoke. But flame sounds better. And we use that for tourists. So it was the first accomplishment as mayor. But it did little to restore the liberty memraling which was then in memorial which was then in decay. Then there was this onslaught of Harsh Criticism of me and ali gates who was African American by African American leaders in the community. They were very angry over the fact that African American men had been excluded from battles in world war one because it was the belief that they were cowards and did not possess the skills to fight and so forth and so on things that you heard or read about. And so with all of that pressure on us, we decided to push on for a number of reasons. One, i think that it is important for us to have monments and memorials so that people will never forget not only the history of that war but the hell of that war. And it is something that we need to have that presents respect and remembrance. And thats exactly where i continue to move. But having had the opportunity to travel abroad, particularly in the middle east area, i had ecome somewhat architecturally sensitive. D realized that architecture spoke to the people of that era. It said something about them. And it preserved something about them for generations to come. So there is a degree of Architectural Heritage involved with monuments and memorials. And thats where i wanted to go. Human beings dont always remember days but we do remember events. We do remember occasions. And this was an opportunity to make sure that we preserved the memory of the occasion of a world war the first world war. And then we convert those occasions into memories. And when i decided that we were going to push ahead even in the face of a lot of criticism, we were able to get a quarter of a cent sales tax. We were able to restore Liberty Memorial. But then we were also able to build a museum that is i think something that people everywhere need to see because of what it has preserved for years and years to come. So commemorating the centennial f world war one has a labor of love for many since i was elected mayor in 1991. And so when i was elected to congress, i decided that this would give me an opportunity to do something that would take Liberty Memorial to a whole new level. So i began to work with yoder from evin the border state of kansas. He and i are very good friends. We are from different Political Parties but we communicate with each other except when k. U. Playing m. U. So our relationship was healthy exempt once or twice and year. And its remained that way and will remain that way forever. But it was because of kevin yoder and congressman ted poe and then the d. C. Congresswoman eel nor Holmes Norton that we thought it was good to try to establish a National Memorial to honor world war one and to create a commission tasked with commemorating the war throughout the United States. Congress we 112th successfully delivered a bill that established the World War One Centennial Commission, and many of those commissions are here today. You will hear from one shortly. Now we have turned our sights on the establishment of a National Memorial in our Nations Capital. Let me start by thanking the commission for their hard work over the past few years, and for putting together this design competition. Its been a pleasure working alongside them in our pursuit to hontr veterans of world war one reaching todays announcement took several years lots of negotiations, several rewrites of legislation, and singlemindedness by all involved for us to get to where we are. As you know, congress doesnt move swiftly. And so sometimes it doesnt move at all. But we were able to get ovement in congress and we had energetic support from a number of people in congress including , ive got to say, both the previous speaker of the house nancy pelosi and then john boehner who never paused in the support that came from pelosi. And so we have had the opportunity to get to this point. And i think there is a high level of excitement to be here. During the Union Station existence, the Third Largest Union Station in the world, in my home district of kansas city, of course, it became a focal point in world war one where train traffic peaked with 79,000 trains passing through Union Station including 271. Rains in one day perhaps it was the witnessing of americans traveling to the east coast to be deployed to the war that prompted the citizens of kansas city and the surrounding area to build a memorial lest we lest the ages forget. And so the site dedication became a world event as the five allied military leaders of world war one joined Vice President of the United States Calvin Coolidge at the dedication in 19 21. This is the only time in history that the allied leaders publicly joined together and honored those who had served and died in world war one. No one knew at that time that a future president of the United States was in attendance, Harry S Truman who served during world war one with the 129th field auxiliary participated in the site dedication. And so if you can stay with me get to washington and elected to congress and i discover that harry truman is the only president who has not memorialized in the capital. And so i am thinking, something has gone terribly wrong. Harry truman et in the capital. And now were working on that process. But were also trying to make sure that the president of the United States who was a resident in the fifth Congressional District and who served in world war one, which connected all of this together, received the proper attention. And so were working on both of those. And this is the realization of bringing all of that together at one time. And so as the hope for peace began to fade after the war had ended, it became apparent that this would not be the last war. It would be the children of world war one veterans who would become the greatest generation because they were called to fight yet another war. World war ii. And so i am thrilled to be here. And with some excitement wait design unveiling of the winner. I would like to present the person who pushed and pushed and pushed and without his push im not so sure that we would be here today. And that is the vice chairman of the commission. Virginia. Ntain of [applause]. Thank you, congressman cleaver. I appreciate that very much. Thank you, congressman cleaver. Is very proud to have congressman Emanual Cleaver as our the commission most ardent champion on the hill along with his home state senator senators Claire Mccaskell and senator blunt, as well as congressman poe from texas. And many others. Congress was the commission was created by congress in january 2013. And in one of our first meetings almost 2 years ago we undertook as one of our first orders of business the establishment of a National World war one memorial in the Nations Capital. And with the congressmans help we brought that legislation forward. It passed a year later. In the year since weve been marching as rapidly as we can down that road. So we are here today to announce this selected Design Concept for that memorial which is really step one in the memorial process. And i will talk more about that in a moment. But the initial question we get is why world war one memorial, why National Memorial, wy one now, why one in washington. Wasnt the war a hundred years ago . Arent those veterans all gone . In fact, this is a fairly unique project. Memorials we have to korea, vietnam, world war ii were all built with the strong leadership and support of veterans of those wars while those generations were still with us. Indeed, before 1982 we didnt that. N terms of washington of course abournedsf bounds with circles and squares and parks honoring military leaders and in comflict but not the common soldier who did the fighting and dying. The grant memorials make a de in o civil war memorial washington but again there the focus is on those two leaders, not the soldiers. There is in this country a proud tradition of local memorials to the civil war, to world war one. Many of those memorials were repurpossed and expanded to include world war ii and later conflicts. But those are very much hidden in plain sight not recognized as a world war one memorial to the extent theyre recognized at all but often as a site people drive by and pay little regard to. There is the Liberty Tower in kansas city which went beyond the citizens of kansas city and was conceived as a memorial to all the nations veterans. And were proud to have that in essence a coNational Memorial but one located in kansas city not in the Nations Capital. So beginning with the Vietnam Memorial that was our First National war memorial in washington. Since then weve been working backwards. We added korea in 1995 and world war ii in 2004. Now we are here to talk about world war one. And there are two primary Purpose Force a National World war one memorial. The first which is also the primary mission of our commission is education. Role world d on the war one played and the world we live in. It will in itself raise awareness of the centennial we are currently in and inspire americans to learn more about world war one and how it shaped the world we live in today. Our hope and expectation is that a National Memorial will inspire people around the country to go look at those local memorials that theyve overlooked and learned the history of their forebearers and community in the war. Its always been my thought that some Dumb High School kid would come to washington on a class trip and go to a world war one memorial and realize oh, yeah if there was a world war one two i guess there would be a world war one and maybe thats what that back in my hometown is all about and i will take a closer look at it. Thats the educational purpose. The second is commemorative. Simply put, the commission is commissions view is that our soldiers and marines and sailors and for the first time aviators who fought and died in world war one did so with the same courage and tenacity and sacrifice shown by the veterans of other wars that have a place on the national mall. They withstood the inferno of our garages, they went down to the bottom of the sea in their ships, they fell from the skies in burning recage of airplanes and charged out of trenches across open fields and into hills and woods that the enemy spent years fortifying to defend. And they did so in greater numbers than our other wars. 4. 7 million men and women went off to war, 116,000 never returned. Measured against todays population, that would be the equivalent of almost 15 million americans going to serve their country today with more than 360,000 fatalities. In vietnam, we lost 47,000 men years t in about eight of fighting. In world war one we lost 53,000 in six months. In one sixweek period the major battle that years of fighting. Ended the war lost almost as many men in that six weeks as we did in the korean war. The caurment rate for u. S. Troops in world war one is half that of world war ii. We lost more men in one month in world war one than we have in the last 15 years in the war on terror. Such service and sacrifice must be commemorated. To honor the veterans of the later three great wars of the centuries with memorials in the Nations Capital while not giving similar recognition to the veterans of world war one would send a message that their service and sacrifice was valued less. And that would be an injustice. So with that mission in mind the commission asked for and received from congress authorization to establish a National World war one memorial on pennsylvania avenue. Hotel t of the willard one block from the white house. That does lead to the obvious the national ot mall . We would have sought a place on the malibu for a federal law called the commemorative works act that decrees its a substantially completed work and shall be no new memorials or museums on the mall. If there ever were be an exception i argued it would be orld war one but the commission decided it would be inappropriate so it turned to what we felt was the next best place, which has a place at the western part of pennsylvania avenue the great diagonal and the most symbolically important avenue in the country one block from the white house with a commanding view of the capital, two blocks from the mall with substantial foot traffic. And just as importantly already the site of a memorial of pershing. So at the site chosen we turned to the design process itself. We studied other monuments built in washington. We consulted with participants in a variety of different design processes as well as the various public agencies with stewardship over the built environment in washington. We chose to follow a process with five key characteristics. The first that it would be a twostage competition. We would make an open call and then select a small group to advance to a second round. The second is that the competition was open. It was not limited to an invited group. It was not limited to licensed professionals. It was open to all comers. The third that it would be an international competition. The fourth that it would be anonymous so that the selection of the finalists would not be influenced by their identity. And fifth that in the initial stages it would be independent. The commission appointed an independent jury of experts in various fields of design and history. And gave them authority to select the five finalists that would go to the second round. I would commend to you on our website the names and biographies of those jurors. But if not all seven, six of the seven had strong ties to washington which we thought was also a significant characteristic in their appointment. In july, the jury selected five finalists and those moved forward into a stage two. I also wanted to say a word about our competition managers. The commission retained don. If you could give a wave. And roger managed the competition for us. Don literally wrote the book on Architectural Design competitions and has managed sites such as the oklahoma city, the flight 93, smithsonian, museum of African American culture and the trust for the national mall. Roger is known to many of you as the local architect at the university of maryland and a longtime commentator. So the jury selected five finalists again on an anonymous basis. All five were american. But its worth noting that one of the design teams of chicago was headed by two architects originally from spain. And given that immigrants made a vital contribution to world war one we were pleased that it was reflected in the competition. During stage two, the finalistings then had a series mid course reviews with members of the commission and our competition managers to further refine their designs and to respond to issues and criticisms that has been raised by this project at this particular site. Those issues were generated by what we believe has been and was intended to be one of the most open and transparent design competitions ever held for a public place in washington. Of the simply a matter Centennial Commission choosing a design and building it but rather it reflects the fact that the design of memorials on federal land in washington, the National Park service the commission of fine arts, the National Planning commission and the district Historic Preservation office. And any design must also go through public review process under the Environmental Protection act and the national Historic Preservation act. So for these reasons it will be important to recognize that what the commission selected today is not the final design but a Design Concept and the selection of a team of designers to advance that concept that will undergo significant evolution as it goes through these review and approval processes. So recognizing the processes we would have to go through, the commission has sought to consult closely with all those stake holder agencies as we have gone through this process. We met with them before seeking authorization to identify any issues that might arise. We asked them to help frame the design goals for the memorial and asked them to review in common the draft of design manual. We convened a Design Oversight Committee consisting of representatives from those agencies that participated in the mid course reviews. We had at the stage two finalists. We had that review the final ubmissions and provide comments to the competition jury. And while dealing while weve dealt so far mainly with staff, we also provided information briefings not full commissions of those agencies. Have also sought out Public Comments. We posted the stage one submissions to the website and solicited public comment. We received 100 which were shared before selection of the five comments. We posted the finalists and als oversight committee. After they had been through the final designs we posted those to the website and also di played them publicly. We again solicited Public Comments and received another 200 comments. Those public prosses helped clarify several distinct design challenges facing this project the first is the expected one how do you come up with an appropriate war memorial the one that commends the service of the thousands that died . How do you convey the heroism and magnitude . And how do you see dine a emorial that stands with the memorials on the mall even those located off the wall . But in other ways this has been a far more complex design challenge than those memorials posed by those built on the mall. First, again, this memorial honors the generation of service men and women who were no longer with us. And that raised implications for what is the intended audience of the memorial . Whats the appropriate memorial theme . What is the appropriate or inappropriate design style . Those are issues that the jury spent a long time discussing. A second challenge, and this really is one of the most complicated ones we have dealt with, was the fact that the memorials on the mall have nothing else to do but be a memorial. Whereas a memorial at Pershing Park has to be both a memorial and a living, breathing, wellfunctioning urban park. Pershing park is at an interesting junction of the city. You have the white house grounds and the Commerce Department and Treasury Building off to the west and south which link the site to the monumental court of washington, the public space. Then to the other side you have the hotels, Freedom Plaza, district building which constitute the city part of washington. And Pershing Park in a real way is the transition between those. And in that same sort of way, it has to remain both a park to the people who live and visit washington, and yet it also needs to be a memorial that takes its place within the monumental core. And they have to compliment each other. We have many designs where the park overwhelmed the memorial or where the memorial overwhelmed the park. We embraced it from day one and one we continue to focus on. Another challenge for this site a hat it has to be have sense of seclusion but also be inviting and visible. It is surrounded by four busy streets and a good design would have to provide some sort of visual and oral screen from the street traffic yet also not be so invisible that if youre passing by you have no recognition of what is there. In additional challenge within the mall unlike where they stand alone, it has to respect and contribute to the urban context of pennsylvania avenue and adjacent sites. As i said, its in this peculiar junction of the federal and city parks of washington. There is iconic architecture and design all around it from the willard hotel. Hotel washington, general sherman. Freedom plaza directly across 14th street. Different buildings and places with different uses and design styles, a good design for Pershing Park again got to complement and not compete with those surrounding sites. And at the same time, it needed to take account of the fact that for the last 40 years almost 50 years, there has been an ongoing transformation of pennsylvania avenue beginning in the Kennedy Administration nd carrying on and given its biggest impetus by the pennsylvania avenue corporation which laid down various design parameters for peavel avenue. One was that along the avenue would be a series of public Spaces Designed in a contemporary design motif primarily consisting of plain or open spaces that merge those sites into the city. Of particular challenge was dealing with the existing Cultural Resources at the site. And how to first of all how to integrate the existing elements. And then also determining how to defer appropriately to the existing design of the park. Thats been an ongoing issue that we have had to confront and one we will continue to work on. So designers submitted their final submissions. They went on public display, were submitted in a public meeting. The jury convened on january 7 and reached a unanimous first ballot decision on the design that they would recommend to the commission. The jurys report and recommendation was delivered to the Commission Last week. Morning the Commission Adopted the jurys recommendation by an 81 vote. With that i am pleased to announce that the commission has the jurys recommendation by an 81 vote. With that i am pleased to announce that the commission has selected as the memorial Design Concept the submission by joseph wyshar working with the sculpt you are saven howard. Joe is 25 years old and a 2013 graduate of the school of architecture of the university of arkansas. The nature of the architectural licensing project which takes several years is such that joe is not yet a licensed architect. His selection val dates this to open it to all comers regardless of professional certification. As the project goes forward joe will team with architects a if i remember based in baltimore that has long experience with cultural projects including rehabilitation at arlington house at Arlington National emetery as well as the new Visitors Center at mount vernon. Howard of new york has 30 years of experience considered one of the leading sculptors. Been shown at more than 50 shows. He had worked with the late renowned arkt tech michael graves. The New York Times said when viewing his works visitors may be reminded at the time when done tello and roden walked the earth. The kind of praise i would like to get some day. O joes design reconfigures it into three spaces each which responds in different ways to service both the memorial and urban park. To the west side an upper long border by maple trees with a Free Standing sculptur in the round will create a simple contained space reminiscent of the sunken plaza that will be shielded from the surrounding city while at the same time open to it and will create an enclave with a potential for both quiet contemplation and active recreation. Courtyard to the east and opening east to Freedom Plaza is a more urban plaza. The existing memorial will remain here but the centerpiece will be a bronze sculpt ral work excuted. Here too the design will accommodate those who come to see the site come to the site to see the memorial or for other gatherings. As well as those who just want to enjoy their lunch or fresh air. I remind you these are simply design suggestions by the sculptor. They appear here as illustrated images rather than the forms they will ultimately take. These are not necessarily the themes or images that it will ultimately depict which the commission will develop in months to come. Finally along the Northern Edge across from the willard along one of the two sloping walls and walkways that connect the lower and upper portions of the design will facilitate additional park enjoyment by hotel guests and Office Workers in relation to the restaurants, cafes, and shops across the street. So with this simple elegant design, they have met the various design challenges that i framed a moment ago. First, they have created a strong memorial design will facilitate additional park enjoyment by hotel guests and Office Workers in relation to the restaurants, cafes, and shops across the street. So with this simple elegant design, they have met the various design challenges that i framed a moment ago. First, they have created a strong Memorial Center to the park compposed of two distinct elements that can present their own themes. It has done so in a classical style recognizeable in the era of the war yet also stand up over time and be recognized 100 years from now. It has placed that design in a contemporary Landscape Design for public spaces along pennsylvania avenue. It creates a variety of open spaces both paved and green. That will accommodate different types of abuse of use as a park. Th will compliment not compete with the surrounding spaces and by opening on to 14 and 15th streets as well as peavel avenue the site will interact much more effectively than the current park design. At the same time, it does retain significant pieces of the parks design by operating in two separate spaces at separate levels with a design approach while improving accessibility, visibility, and solving the main defect by making it more accessible, visible and providing more connections to the surrounding streets. I said this was step one selection of the Design Concept. We anticipate spending the next several months working closely this design. And perhaps looked at variations on it. And then ultimately to submit to the commission of fine arts the national perhaps looked at variations on it. And then ultimately to submit to the commission of fine arts the National Planning capital for initial concept approval hopefully in the Third Quarter of this year. We also begin fund raising in ernest through the generosity of the Military Museum and library Sandra Pershing and others. We have a long way to go on the fund raising but we are excited to complete step one. Look forward. And succeeding steps of this process. With that i would be happy to entertain any questions. Could you give a sense of what deadline youre working on for dedication . And also do you have an estimate of how much this will cost . Theres not a hard deadline. In an ideal world we would take advantage of some of the symbolically important dates ahead of all of us and dedicate this on ars cities day, veterans day which would be the 100 year anverse rifment our goal is to have the Design Concept approved at the end of this year, early next year, and be in a position to breakground by the end of 2017. That is ambitious but were going to hold to that schedule until we cant any more. Look ms of budget, if you at the finalist some are more complex than others. Weve tried to be realistic about what can be raised and whats appropriate to the site. We think the site does call for a simple, elegant design. There is not a hard budget figure. We looking at the 40 million range that we need to raise for this. Charlie clark with government executive. Are the europeans involved . Are they going to help out . Is it big news over in europe . Kept ourtainly counterpart commissions in europe informed as to what the commissions overall plans are which involve not just the memorial but other commemorative programs. When we think about fundraising, we certainly think in terms of European Companies doing business in the United States and share the actual connection. There is to this day tremendous gratitude in belgium and northern france for the role the United States played in world war i as well as world war ii. We certainly hope to tap into that sentiment. Yes, said. Yes, sir. I am with the washington post. He stressed the compatibility with the new design you stress the compatibility of the new design with you existing design. Is this a compromise design possibilitiesing this will be placed in the National Register . I would not call it a compromise. Certainly, one of the purposes of consulting with the public review agencies was to raise issues that we will have to deal with as we move this process forward, as we move this Design Concept forward. Alert to some of the presentation concerns that might be raised preservation concerns that might be raised. We passed those along to the jury and commission. The jury. When it should pick the best design the jury felt strongly it should pick the best design. I think there is a lot of complement to the objectives because the site does benefit restrainedler, more approach. There are good elements of the existing site. It is interesting in his presentation to the jury, he said of this park it is a good park with one major flaw, which is that it has been depressed area in the center that may have made sense 35 years ago was part of washington looked different than it does today, but that it goes against most contemporary Design Principles which are to have a public space open to the surrounding site. A lot of what makes this a good design and incorporates elements of the existing park made it the best selection. I would not call it a compromise, but there is a coupliment charity complementarity in purposes. Yes, maam. I with the chicago tribune. Read that the cubic feet are identical. Im hardpressed to figure out what area of the part magic matches the cubic feet. They calculated the upper volume of the earth in the upper plaza. I think that is where they arrived at the number. Frank lockwood, democratic is at gazette. What can you tell me about the winner and what you impressed impressed you about him . For someone who i believe had not been to washington before he entered this competition, i wonder how much he knew about world war i. He has certainly studied it since then. Joe had the great sense to immediately after being selected as a finalist to go out and find a greek sculptor. Had he not done so, i am not sure his design would have advanced. Not that this is a factor in his selection, but the commission is pleased someone from his generation is going to have this prominent role because our core objective is to raise awareness of world war i among the younger generations of this country who will be around long enough to remember it. We are pleased by that connection. We did not pick the design based on the qualities of the designer so much, but it is interesting he sort of softer saw through to a solution that in its simplicity showed some complex thinking. Interested observer. [laughter] thes there a plan by commission to carry on in terms of awarenessraising and donetion once the work is of the park itself . Will there be a website that teachers can use to promote information about world war i, classroom materials and things like that . We have not focused on that yet. 2019,mmission sunsets in except to the extent we are still working on the memorial. Perpetuity requires time and people to keep it going. We are working on a number of projects that will tie in a variety of Information Sources related to veterans of the war. I would imagine this could be part of that. [indiscernible] matt. D point, one of our commissioners is executive director of the National World war i museum in kansas city, and they carry on that mission. They are a close partner of ours. I just heard matt volunteer to take on the grassmowing and the leafmaking for the site for worlds to come. The Kansas City Museum has the Ongoing Mission of maintaining awareness of the work. Worldwar. Org. I think that is it. Myself and the other commissioners are available for additional questions. Owe a huge, i personal debt to you for helping to bring this to where we are today. Thank you for your support and the museum as well. Thank you all for coming. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] announcer this weekend, the thean cities tour explores history and literary culture of santa barbara, located approximately 90 miles northwest of los angeles on the california coast. The cities nicknamed the american riviera due to its mediterranean climate and also for its spanish influence and mission architecture. On book tv, we will learn about the history of endangered