New York City's AIDS Memorial Park Design Competition Issues Call for Entries

NEW YORK, Nov. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- AIDS Memorial Park (http://www.AIDSMemorialPark.org), a coalition of individuals and organizations dedicated to the recognition and preservation of the ongoing history of the AIDS crisis, today issued a Call for Entries for their design competition.  The goal of the competition is to produce a design for a park, memorial and learning center in honor of New York City's 100,000+ men, women and children who have died from AIDS, and to commemorate and celebrate the efforts of the caregivers and activists who responded heroically to the crisis.

The proposed project's location is the Triangle Site of land bordered by Seventh Avenue, 12th Street and Greenwich Avenue in New York City's West Village.  The property, which includes 16,000 square feet above ground and 10,000 square feet of basement space, stands across the street from the former St. Vincent's Hospital.  St. Vincent's was the epicenter of New York City's AIDS epidemic, home to one of the country's oldest, most experienced and most acclaimed HIV treatment programs.

"We envision AIDS Memorial Park as a vital community park that integrates green public space with a living memorial.  We believe that our design process will engage the best architects, and landscape and urban designers to propose inspirational, imaginative and thoughtful alternative solutions for the park and underground space," said Keith Fox, Chairman of AIDS Memorial Park's Executive Committee.

Entries for the design competition are being accepted today through midnight on January 21, 2012 via the Architizer website at http://www.architizer.com/en_us/competitions/nyc-aids-memorial-park-design-competition/.  Winners of the competition will be announced on February 1, 2012, with one winner receiving $5,000 and one runner-up receiving $2,000.  The coalition aims for completion of the park by World AIDS Day on December 1, 2014.

Michael Arad, Designer of The National September 11 Memorial, is chair of the jury, whose current members include Kurt Andersen, Novelist & Journalist; Barry Bergdoll, Professor of Architectural History at Columbia University and Chief Curator of Architecture & Design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City; Elizabeth Diller, Professor of Architecture at Princeton University and Founding Partner, Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Robert Hammond, Co-Founder & Executive Director, Friends of the High Line; Dr. Marjorie Hill, CEO of Gay Men's Health Crisis; Bill T. Jones, Artistic Director, Choreographer, & Dancer; Richard Meier, Managing Partner, Richard Meier & Partners Architects; Ken Smith, Landscape Architect; and Suzanne Stephens, Deputy Editor, Architectural Record.  Architectural Record and Architizer are the design contest's media sponsors.

"I am honored to chair the jury for the NYC AIDS Memorial Park.  The redesign of the grounds of the old St. Vincent's hospital has afforded a unique opportunity to create a meaningful public space.  My fellow jurors and I are looking forward to reviewing proposals that imagine both a neighborhood park that will serve the surrounding community, and a significant memorial that can serve as a symbolic touchstone as we commemorate 30 years of the AIDS epidemic," said Arad.

To enter the competition or learn more, visit http://www.architizer.com/en_us/competitions/nyc-aids-memorial-park-design-competition/.  For more information about AIDS Memorial Park, visit http://www.AIDSMemorialPark.org, find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AIDSMemorialPark or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/AIDSMemPark.

About AIDS Memorial Park: AIDS Memorial Park was founded in 2011 by urban planners Christopher Tepper (30) and Paul Kelterborn (33), whose generation has never known a world without AIDS.  This coalition of individuals and organizations is dedicated to the recognition and preservation of the ongoing history of the AIDS crisis.  The coalition's goal is to produce a design for a park, memorial and learning center in honor of New York City's 100,000+ men, women and children who have died from AIDS, and to commemorate and celebrate the efforts of the caregivers and activists who responded heroically to the crisis. For more information, visit http://www.AIDSMemorialPark.org, find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AIDSMemorialPark or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/AIDSMemPark.

SOURCE AIDS Memorial Park