The design for a National Mall memorial goes through a rigorous review process by a commission specifically selected for that memorial as well as governmental planning review. Mr. David Eisenhower was a member of the memorial commission. Presumably he was in communication with other members of the Eisenhower family.
When this controversy first broke out in public, Witold Rybczynski, the famous architectural critic and author, and also a member of memorial commisssion, wrote a defense of the Gehry design and the commissions approval in the New York Times OpEd page. Note that Mr. Rybczynski has rather favorable ideas about traditional architectural design.
I too have issues with the Gehry design, particularly the 80' high mesh screen and massive circular brick support piers. I also worry that a rigorous review process might have been compromised by some failure of communication with the family, and a failure to adequately crit the "starchitect" design.
But I think the AIA is correct in supporting the architect against politically and conservatively motivated congressional verbal and legislative missles, but insufficient in its criticism of an in place review process that may have failed.
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Edward Acker AIA ' LEEP AP
Winchester VA
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