A 250-foot-tall arch for Memorial Circle in Washington, DC was approved by the US Commission of Fine Arts, bypassing the usual review process and largely disregarding public comments that opposed the project. The design still lacked key elements, including additional sculptures and reliefs to fill niches. The CFA chairman proposed final approval, which passed with four commissioners present. During earlier conceptual review, panel members recommended removing gold statuary from the top to reduce height from 250 feet to 166 feet, but the proposal kept the original height. The architects described the arch as celebrating America’s 250 years of freedom and posterity, focusing on the living and national perseverance rather than primarily honoring the dead. The Thursday design removed an eight-foot platform and gold lions on surrounding plinths.
"US President Donald Trump's proposal to build a 250ft-tall arch on Memorial Circle in Washington, DC, was approved by a the US Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) on Thursday (21 May) in a vote that leapfrogged the usual review process and largely disregarded the public comments, which were "99.5%" in opposition to the project, according to a staff report. While the arch's design still lacks some key details, including additional sculptures and reliefs to fill its niches, the CFA's chairman, Rodney Mims Cook, Jr, put forward a motion for final approval, which was passed by the four present commissioners."
"During the CFA's previous review of the conceptual designs for the arch, panel members recommended excluding gold statuary from the top of the arch to reduce its overall height from 250ft to 166ft. But Trump rejected this suggestion, "while respectfully noting the differences of aesthetic opinion that may exist on the subject", according to Nicolas Charbonneau, a principal at Harrison Design, the architects working on the project."
""The intent of the arch is a celebration in America of 250 years of greatest freedom and posterity, for which we can only thank the wisdom of our founders and God's providence," Charbonneau added. "While it may celebrate the victories of America in various theories of war and the sacrifice of our fallen heroes, it is not primarily a monument dedicated to the dead, but to the living, to this free country, and its perseverance.""
"The design discussed on Thursday eliminates an eight-foot platform on which the arch was previously shown standing as well as a collection of gold lions on plinths surrounding it. It also does a"
#us-commission-of-fine-arts #memorial-circle #washington-dc-architecture #public-opposition #monument-design
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