Memorial Vitals:
- Designer: Matt Leon, of Linn Architects in Media, PA. One of his first commissions.
- Landscaper: Jane Kiehl, the English Garden in Mechanicsburg, PA
- General Contractor: Pottenger
- Built to last - Matt Leon, architect : “This memorial was designed and constructed to last just as our military has and continues to stand.”
Slab: 20’ by 50 poured concrete over steel reinforcing bar (re-bar) laid on top of packed gravel
- Weight of concrete 3 tons
- Weight of gravel 3 tons
Walls:
- Order of walls are based on “reach” of service with each inner wall more protective of the flag representing the homeland, and outer wall representing the more “expeditionary” manner of that service. As Matt Leone the architect said at the dedication ceremony the walls are aligned “in order of response of engagement.”
-- Attractive aspect of the design was that the viewer must interact with it, by walking through it, thereby experiencing it, and being a part of it.
-- 8’ by 16’ walls of materials representing the strengths of each service (see below), about 1 ‘ thick. Matt Leone, design architect said at the memorial’s dedication: the walls are “the embodiment of the sacrifice, achievement and strength of all those American veterans…through the walls everything has a purpose and meaning and the human scale and space of the memorial provides for the invocation of personal feelings and emotions for every individual who journeys through.”
- Air Force – aluminum, signifying stealth and agility. Hollow wall
- Navy – steel, signifying material strength and sleekness Hollow wall, ribbed construction as in the building of ships.
- Marines – concrete, signifying a solid yet malleable nature
- Army – block, representing their rugged and orderly presence
- Coast Guard – stone, signifying the last wall of defense in protection of the homeland
- Pieces missing from walls signify the losses, set-backs and defeats of each service, but “they all still stand and will continue to stand in defense of the United States of America.”
- Obstacle Course – while evaluating each design to pick a winner in our contest, we nicknamed the designs for easy reference while discussing them (an Air Force tradition of assigning nicknames as “call signs”). The winner was known as the Obstacle Course because of the way you have to negotiate through it. The Architect intended that the overlapping walls would symbolize the protection each Service gave to the homeland, represented by the flag and the reflecting pool.
Windows in walls are aligned so that each Airman, Sailor, Marine, Soldier, and Coast Guardsmen are saluting in formation when you look at them from one end or the other.
-- symbolizes “jointness” in which all of the services work together for the greater good
-- Architect Matt Leone: aligned along the centerline of the memorial “at each wall is a window maintaining a silhouette … [members of that service] stand in salute of the United States flag…”
- Designer: Matt Leon, of Linn Architects in Media, PA. One of his first commissions.
- Landscaper: Jane Kiehl, the English Garden in Mechanicsburg, PA
- General Contractor: Pottenger
- Built to last - Matt Leon, architect : “This memorial was designed and constructed to last just as our military has and continues to stand.”
Slab: 20’ by 50 poured concrete over steel reinforcing bar (re-bar) laid on top of packed gravel
- Weight of concrete 3 tons
- Weight of gravel 3 tons
Walls:
- Order of walls are based on “reach” of service with each inner wall more protective of the flag representing the homeland, and outer wall representing the more “expeditionary” manner of that service. As Matt Leone the architect said at the dedication ceremony the walls are aligned “in order of response of engagement.”
-- Attractive aspect of the design was that the viewer must interact with it, by walking through it, thereby experiencing it, and being a part of it.
-- 8’ by 16’ walls of materials representing the strengths of each service (see below), about 1 ‘ thick. Matt Leone, design architect said at the memorial’s dedication: the walls are “the embodiment of the sacrifice, achievement and strength of all those American veterans…through the walls everything has a purpose and meaning and the human scale and space of the memorial provides for the invocation of personal feelings and emotions for every individual who journeys through.”
- Air Force – aluminum, signifying stealth and agility. Hollow wall
- Navy – steel, signifying material strength and sleekness Hollow wall, ribbed construction as in the building of ships.
- Marines – concrete, signifying a solid yet malleable nature
- Army – block, representing their rugged and orderly presence
- Coast Guard – stone, signifying the last wall of defense in protection of the homeland
- Pieces missing from walls signify the losses, set-backs and defeats of each service, but “they all still stand and will continue to stand in defense of the United States of America.”
- Obstacle Course – while evaluating each design to pick a winner in our contest, we nicknamed the designs for easy reference while discussing them (an Air Force tradition of assigning nicknames as “call signs”). The winner was known as the Obstacle Course because of the way you have to negotiate through it. The Architect intended that the overlapping walls would symbolize the protection each Service gave to the homeland, represented by the flag and the reflecting pool.
Windows in walls are aligned so that each Airman, Sailor, Marine, Soldier, and Coast Guardsmen are saluting in formation when you look at them from one end or the other.
-- symbolizes “jointness” in which all of the services work together for the greater good
-- Architect Matt Leone: aligned along the centerline of the memorial “at each wall is a window maintaining a silhouette … [members of that service] stand in salute of the United States flag…”
