National Capital Memorials and Museums Master Plan

ASLA 2003 Communications Honor Award

National Capital Memorials and Museums Master Plan
Landscape Architect: Leo A Daly, Washington, DC / EDAW, Inc., Alexandria, Virginia
Owner/Client: National Capital Planning Commission

Considering an ongoing proliferation of memorial proposals seeking prominent sites within Washington, DC, Congress identified the need for innovative planning of future commemorative resources in order to protect established settings of national monuments and memorials. Historic patterns of memorial placement have focused upon the central portion of Washington DC, while other areas of the city have yet to benefit from, or contribute to, the image and qualities of the city’s commemorative features. In order to protect and enhance the urban qualities of the nation’s capital and its memorial features, the master plan framework and memorial sites reinforce historic planning for the city while providing new opportunities for environmental and community renewal. The project landscape architects identified sites and related planning guidance that would complement Washington DC’s prominent destinations, local neighborhoods, and natural settings with appropriate commemorative elements. The master plan considers the city’s original L’Enfant Plan, McMillan Plan, and current day plan initiatives for the city, as it seeks to distribute new resources throughout the city’s neighborhoods, waterfronts, parklands, and civic spaces. Carefully considering historic precedents, the landscape architects envisioned the distribution of Washington DC’s future memorials in a pattern that would dramatically refocus attention on the city’s waterfronts and neighborhoods, while also complementing the city’s L’Enfant and McMillan Plans. This melding of landscape architecture and planning will guide the quality of future urban and natural spaces in the nation’s capital in a manner consistent with historic and emerging urban plans.

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	Master Plan elements summarize the plan’s goals. (Images by: National Capital Planning Commission)

	The Master Plan’s three major components: waterfront crescent, monumental corridors, and commemorative focus sites. (Images by: National Capital Planning Commission)

	Existing distribution of memorials and museums depicting the cluster pattern of commemoration that Washington presently features with the proposed distribution of future memorials and museums provides improved patterns of resource distribution throughout the city’s neighborhoods and waterfronts. (Images by: National Capital Planning Commission)

	Aerial composite image of the city’s elegant street grid system and substantial open spaces is overlaid by several site images of proposed future memorial and museum locations as the sites appear today. (Images by: National Capital Planning Commission)

	Opportunities to incorporate small-scale memorial features in the prominent landscapes of the Lincoln Memorial are proposed for its parkland areas and beyond. (Images by: National Capital Planning Commission)