Officials in the City of Duluth want to build a living memorial dedicated to all veterans of Duluth, both living and dead. To assist representatives from the City of Duluth in generating ideas for the memorial, Georgia Tech Architecture Professors Richard Dagenhart and David Green's senior design studios will spend the first two weeks in February investigating living memorials and generating potential designs for consideration.

Before the students isolate themselves behind their drawing boards and computers, they will fully immerse themselves in on-going conversations and background learning around the design of memorials. The Duluth Living Memorial Project will kickoff with a seminar on architecture and memorials led by Professors Dagenhart, Green, and Doug Allen.

Allen, together with Associate Professor Jude LeBlanc designed the Veterans Memorial Park in Smyrna, Georgia and was part of the team who designed the Korean War Memorial in Canton Park on the harbor in the City of Baltimore, MD., described the nature of a memorial. "A memorial is built by the living in order to obligate future generations to remember a significant person or event. In doing so, a memorial carries with it a pedagogical function."

The intriguing and difficult aspect of the Duluth Memorial is that it is intended to honor living veterans, as well as those whose lives were sacrificed in service to their country. 

"This is a unique opportunity for our students to participate in a design competition of a real project," said Chris Jarrett, Associate Director of the Architecture Program. "While the project dimensions are small in scale, the scope and challenge of the project is huge. Bringing resolution and meaning to a memorial that commemorates not only the dead but the living is one of the most provocative and potentially rich aspects of this competition. Surely it will stir the student's minds. The Architecture Program is pleased to be able to participate and assist the City of Duluth in reaching their goal of building a Living Memorial."

The competition will be judged by a panel including a representative from the City of Duluth, a Duluth veteran, design faculty at Georgia Tech, and an invited design critic. Three monetary awards will be given to the top three designs. 

All of the student projects from the design studio will be on display at the City of Duluth after the competition. This will provide an opportunity for the citizens of Duluth to reflect upon the different designs and help them determine what's best and how to move forward in the development of a Living Memorial for the City of Duluth. 

The site of the Living Memorial is the new Town Green and Festival Center located in the historic heart of the city.

See follow up article from The Whistle, Georgia Tech's faculty and staff newspaper.