For Immediate Release
September 17, 2004

Contact: JoAnn Mangione
202-393-0090

AWARD-WINNING DESIGN TEAM SELECTED FOR
VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL EDUCATION CENTER
Polshek Partnership Architects, LLP and
 Ralph Appelbaum Associates, Inc., Exhibit Design

Washington, D.C. – The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund has chosen the architectural firm of Polshek Partnership Architects to head the design team for an Education Center near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, announced Jan C. Scruggs, founder and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.  The winning team was selected from four finalists out of a field of 39 entrants in a National Design Competition.

“The finalists are extremely talented and creative firms at the top of their profession.  They showed an understanding of the historical and future significance of this education center, and possess respect for the Memorial and the Mall.  In the end, we went with the team we felt would design a beautiful gift for the American people and who are best suited for the diverse challenges this project holds,” said Scruggs.

Maya Lin, architect of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, participated in the selection process as a special advisor to the jury. “I could not be more excited.  They will create an incredibly brilliant and respectful piece of architecture that will match something I’m really close to,” said Lin.

Known for architectural excellence and for the firm’s longstanding commitment to cultural, educational, governmental and scientific institutions, Polshek Partnership’s collaborative design approach has cultivated such projects as the American Museum of Natural History Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City; the underground Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall; the Brooklyn Museum of Art’s Entry Pavilion and Plaza; the Newseum/Freedom Foundation World Headquarters in Washington, D.C.; and the William J. Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock. In 1992, Polshek Partnership received the Firm Award, the American Institute of Architects' highest honor to an architecture firm.

“PPA is very honored to have the opportunity to collaborate with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund on the design and consequent realization of the Education Center,” said James S. Polshek, PPA Founding Partner.  “Our approach is founded on the belief that a knowledge of and respect for history will be critical to the creation of a physical and intellectual environment that bridges past and future.” Polshek’s team will also include a landscape designer and engineering firm.

The exhibition designer for the Education Center will be Ralph Appelbaum Associates of New York. A firm of world renown, RAA has created such projects as the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Rose Center for Earth and Space, The Newseum, and the new Corning Museum of Glass. It is currently involved in the Clinton Presidential Library and in the design of the new interpretive facilities at the United States Capitol Visitor Center and Monticello. Other projects of note include the National Civil Rights Museum and the Liberty Memorial Museum to World War I.  RAA has received more than 90 awards, including the Presidential Award for Design Excellence and the Smithsonian’s first National Design Award in Communications Design.

“The stories, faces and experiences featured in this new Center will ensure that the veterans of Vietnam will never fade from memory,” said Ralph Appelbaum, Founder Ralph Appelbaum Associates.  “The lessons of this war will continue to help us navigate our lives and focus our thoughts on the meanings of national service and patriotic duty.”

On November 17, 2003, President Bush, signed legislation allowing the Memorial Fund to construct an Education Center.  It is expected to cost more than $40 million and take three to five years to build.  Just like The Wall itself, no federal funds will be used to build the Education Center. 

“Today, many of the four million people who visit The Wall are younger than the Memorial,” said Harry G. Robinson III, FAIA, professional advisor to the jury and Professor of Urban Design at Howard University.  “The Education Center will have increasing importance with each passing generation and in time could become more visited than The Wall, itself,” he added.

The three other firms who were part of the final phase of the competition were Ann Beha Architects, Boston; Architecture Research Office, New York City; and Michael Graves and Associates, New York City.

Jury members were:

  • James Cummings AIA, Architect of Record, VVMF
  • Dr. Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel, Commissioner, U.S. Commission of Fine Arts
  • Charles W. “Bill” Dyke, Chairman and CEO, International Technology and Trade Associates
  • Jan C. Scruggs, Founder and President of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund
  • John O. Woods, Jr., Principal, Woods Peacock Engineering Consultants and Director, VVMF

Established in 1979, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is the non-profit organization authorized by Congress to build the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Today, through a series of outreach programs, the organization works to preserve the legacy of The Wall, to promote healing and to educate about the impact of the Vietnam War.

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