This is the World War II Memorial for the U.S. Army 28th Division and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The project includes the restoring and preserving of the existing, but deteriorating 1929 World War I Memorial. The new WW II memorial is to honor 28th Division Regiments and to list names of those lost in battle. Additionally, the design mission was to give coherence to the grounds and render the entire Shrine area accessible to all citizens…as individuals and as ceremonial event participants.
The WW I Memorial is a 400 foot long limestone wall built into a hillside. The WW II Memorial is designed as a second wall, terraced against the hill concentrically to the existing memorial. The new granite wall is shorter, lower and bold, complementing the older memorial without submitting to it. The memorials are linked by a terrace…the Battle Honors Court…providing additional ceremonial space and inscribed recognitions.
A primary architectural tactic is the establishment of built-locations that prompt moments of pause and reflection…places where the visitor may experience an inscription of a name of someone lost, or a phrase of dedication and hear the echo of the spillway against cold stone and the flapping of the American flag in the wind above…perhaps to consider the enormity of the sacrifice and in reminiscence, give thanks.
Great memorials commemorate events strikingly and document moments timelessly.
John Lucas Architect