FAYETTEVILLE -- A Fayetteville-based architecture firm is among five finalists to design a new memorial in the nation's capital, and the dean of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville's Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design is chairing the panel that will select the memorial's designer.
Marlon Blackwell, founder and principal of the eponymous firm, is the E. Fay Jones chair in architecture and a distinguished professor in the Fay Jones School. Peter MacKeith, who received a 2023 Distinguished Professor Award from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, chairs the designer advisory board that will advise the Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation -- founded in 2015 -- on designer selection for the Washington, D.C., memorial, which will honor those who have sacrificed and served in the ongoing war on terrorism.
When contemplating designing a memorial such as this, "I think the best word that comes to mind is 'reflect' -- how can we reflect on this ongoing conflict and war that, to date, has no end -- and find solace," Blackwell said Monday. "How are we going to touch people through design?"
Following recent decisions from the Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission regarding site selection, the foundation has federal authorization to begin designing a memorial after being in the site selection and approval phase since August 2017, according to UA-Fayetteville. The Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation tentatively plans for the memorial to be located within a triangular site at 23rd Street Northwest, Constitution Avenue Northwest and Henry Bacon Drive Northwest, adjacent to the Lincoln Memorial.
The designer advisory board reviewed a slate of 17 eligible designers presented by the foundation's board of directors -- chosen after considering 177 candidates compiled in a collaborative process with input from partners like Winstanley Architects and infrastructure consulting firm AECOM -- to leave the final five, according to Megan Fuentes, vice president of public relations and communications for the Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation.
Michael "Rod" Rodriguez, foundation president and CEO, expects a final designer decision this summer. He said in a news release from the foundation, "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."
The board of directors "resolved to conduct the search for the right designer in the most transparent, impartial, and professional way possible," Ted Skokos -- foundation board chairman -- added in the foundation's release. "The designer advisory board meticulously narrowed down a pool of worthy candidates to reach the current finalists, [and] now the board will carefully deliberate to select the designer most capable of bringing the memorial to life in a way that honors all who have served and sacrificed in America's longest war."
Blackwell was the architect of Springdale's St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, which received the 2011 World Architecture Festival award for Best Civic and Community Building and won the 2012 American Institute of Architects National Small Project Award, one of 16 projects by Blackwell's firm that has been recognized with national Institute of Architects awards, according to the firm.
Marlon Blackwell Architects received the 2016 Cooper Hewitt National Design Award in architecture and ranked No. 1 in design as part of the Architect 50, a national survey of architecture firms. In 2011, Marlon Blackwell Architects was recognized as the Firm of the Year by Residential Architect Magazine.
Other finalists are Oklahoma-based Butzer Architects and Urbanism, and three New York-based firms: James Corner Field Operations, Kengo Kuma and Associates, and Rogers Partners Architects + Urban Designers.
To be among the finalists "is a real honor," as they're "amazing firms," and Blackwell is grateful and proud of his team at his own firm for reaching this stage, he said. The war on terror "has touched the lives of everyone in some form or another, and it's so important" to have a memorial on behalf of the nation.
Several members of Blackwell's family have served in conflicts as members of the armed forces, so this project is particularly special for him, he said. "These folks who have served and risked their lives deserve to be honored."
Founded in 2008 by Hans E. Butzer and his wife, Torrey A. Butzer, Butzer Architects and Urbanism boasts award-winning works like National Native American Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
Signature projects of James Corner Field Operations include the High Line in Manhattan, Navy Pier in Chicago and West End Square in Dallas, according to the foundation.
Kengo Kuma, whom Time Magazine named the world's most influential architect in 2021, founded Kengo Kuma & Associates in 1990. Signature projects include the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo and Scotland's Victoria and Albert Museum, while Rogers Partners Architects + Urban Designers -- based in Houston and New York -- has won dozens of awards from the American Institute of Architects and other industry-leading outlets since being founded a decade ago.
Joining MacKeith on the designer advisory board are Kenneth Foote, chair of the Department of Geography at the University of Connecticut; Mary Kay Lanzillotta, partner at Hartman-Cox Architects in Washington, D.C.; Mia Lehrer, landscape architect and founder of Studio-MLA in Los Angeles; and Allison Grace Williams, founder of AGWms_studio, an architectural design consultancy in San Francisco.
"On behalf of the designer advisory board, we are deeply honored to have been asked to assist with the historic work of building a Global War on Terrorism Memorial on the National Mall," MacKeith said in a news release from UA-Fayetteville. "We are dedicated to undertaking an impartial and rigorous review process that will lead to the selection of the ideal designer or design team for this nationally significant piece of architecture and landscape architecture. We are grateful to be able to use our gifts in service to country, just as all of those whom the memorial will honor have done and will continue to do."
MacKeith, whom the foundation announced as chair of the designer advisory board last month, "is eminently qualified to chair this panel of diverse and distinguished practitioners of architecture, urban design, and geography, and we also appreciate how his perspective is informed by his connections to the American heartland," Rodriguez said in the university news release. "We seek to build an inclusive, apolitical, and reverent memorial that will allow all Americans to honor, heal, be empowered, and unite.
"Our designer advisory board understands this and has done an outstanding job helping identify designers capable of bringing our vision to life," added Rodriguez. "Our global war on terrorism heroes deserve nothing less than a rigorous process, which will culminate with the foundation's board of directors choosing the winning designer. We are grateful to have the designer advisory board lending their world-class expertise to our work."
MacKeith, whose previous academic appointments include Washington University in St. Louis, the Helsinki University of Technology, the University of Virginia and Yale University, has been dean and professor of architecture in the Fay Jones School since 2014. He chairs the Selection Committee for the Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program, a regional initiative of the Walton Family Foundation, according to the university. He also organized and guided the international competition process that led to the selection of Grafton Architects -- 2020 Pritzker Prize recipients -- for UA-Fayetteville's Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation, set to open next year.
The Timberlands Center, part of the Fay Jones School, has already garnered considerable acclaim, recently named the Overall Winner in the AR Future Projects Awards 2023, announced by The Architectural Review, according to the university. Named the Future Project of the Year 2023, the center was the only North American project recognized, and it also won the award for education, a new category this year.
Having a pair of Fay Jones School architects connected to the war on terrorism memorial project "speaks well for the school, [as] we have a great school and faculty," Blackwell said. His thriving firm and work at the Fay Jones School over decades demonstrates "you can do things that are meaningful to people wherever you're [working]."
The Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation's sole mission is to "construct an inclusive place of honor for both uniformed and non-uniformed personnel who served and sacrificed as part of global counterterrorism operations since Sept. 11, 2001," according to the foundation. The memorial is being funded entirely by donations, all of which are 100% tax deductible, and no federal government funding will be used.
"Given the importance of the memorial as a place for service members and their families to honor, heal, be empowered and unite, we are committed to identifying a designer that will properly translate that vision into a timeless work of public art and national commemoration," Skokos, an alumnus of UA-Fayetteville with a Bachelor of Science degree and Juris Doctorate, said in the university's news release. "The designer advisory board will help the board of directors evaluate potential partners with the utmost impartiality and professionalism -- an approach that will also honor those who have already contributed to a memorial funded exclusively by private donations."