American Wild: A Memorial
Finalist

Van Alen Institute Memorials for the Future Competition in collaboration with the National Park Service

Shelby Doyle
Justine Holzman
Forbes Lipschitz
Halina Steiner

The station is transformed from a space of commuting to one of commemoration. Metro users seen here rise through the station beneath the formations of Arches National Park.

Memorials for the Future Competition

During the National Park Service Centennial, the Van Alen Institute, the National Park Service, and the National Capital Planning Commission collaborated on an ideas competition to reimagine how we think about, feel, and experience memorials. Finalists for the competition were exhibited at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts and findings summarized in a report – Not Set in Stone.

Finalist: American Wild
Shelby Doyle, Justine Holzman, Forbes Lipschitz, Halina Steiner

The National Parks are a living memorial to a uniquely American idea of wilderness. In celebration of the National Parks Centennial, American Wild captures the majesty of the nation’s landscape and brings it to the Nation’s capital. Located in the L’Enfant Plaza Station, American Wild generates civic pride by connecting the distinctive architecture of the Washington, D.C.  Metro to the National Parks. Using ultra-high-definition video, recordings of each of the 59 National Parks are projection-mapped at full scale onto the coffered ceiling of L’Enfant Plaza Station, a central Metro station used by a majority of the ridership. The memorial lasts for 59 days – one day for each park. This timeline of the National Park Service’s 100-year history serves as a visual advocate for Service’s next 100 years. In so doing, American Wild serves not only as a steward of the National Park’s legacy but also a steward of its future.

American Wild Final Report PDF

Full scale, immersive video expands access to the National Park experience, raising awareness and creating memories that outlast the installation itself. Visitors seen here are transported to Yosemite National Park.

The installation on the upper level of the L’Enfant Plaza station can be seen from the platform below. Commuters seen here look beyond the platform to the sky of Sequoia National Park.