1. federal
issue
summer 2012
Integration
Quarterly
The quarterly publication of the
Design-Build Institute of America
INSIDE:
What the success of LEED
certification could mean
going forward
State of the Sector reports for
federal, healthcare and prefab
A case study of the
Pentagon Memorial
Local governments discover
design-build

2. 22 summer//2012 the quarterly publication of the design-build institute of america
/LOOK//
LOOK/
PhotocourtesyofTrustfortheNationalMall
By Ian P. Murphy
“THE NATIONAL MALL has been loved to death,”
the design challenge said. Playing host to more
than 25 million visitors and 3,000 events every year,
the country’s most-visited national park and civic
space has taken a beating. To preserve, optimize
and beautify the 700-acre park for future genera-
tions, the nonprofit Trust for the National Mall
launched a juried competition to redesign three
major areas of the nation’s front yard, displaying
12 finalists at the Smithsonian before announcing
the winners at its fifth annual luncheon in May.
The winning designs address issues of aesthet-
ics, sustainability, maintenance and the visitor
experience, incorporating new performance spaces,
gardens, terraces, restaurants and recreational
facilities. Rogers Marvel Architects and PWP
Landscape Architecture created the top entry for
Constitution Gardens, rearranging plantings into
a sustainable oasis of pastoral recreation with a sea-
sonal ice rink. Gustafson Guthrie Nichol and Davis
Brody Bond’s winning design for Union Square
improves upon its expansive views with added pub-
lic spaces. And OLIN + Weiss/Manfredi’s winner
imagines a starlit performance arena with natu-
ralized plantings on the Washington Monument
grounds. “These designs will serve as role models
of sustainability and best practices in urban parks,”
says Caroline Cunningham, President of the Trust
for the National Mall. They are what former First
Lady Laura Bush, honorary chair of the Campaign
for the National Mall and keynote speaker at the
luncheon, called “beautiful, thoughtful solutions
to improve this iconic space.”
Now, the challenge is to raise the money needed
to make the winning designs a reality in time for
the National Park Service’s 2016 centennial, even
as the agency moves ahead with necessary historic-
preservation and environmental reviews. Trust
luncheons have raised nearly $7 million for mall-
restoration efforts to date.
OLIN + Weiss/Manfredi’s winning design for Sylvan Grove brings a landscaped performance space to the nation’s front yard.