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While federal officials finally selected a memorial design for the African Burial Ground, a Duane Street site where thousands of African-American skeletal remainds were found, many people were unhappy with the decision. Some heckled officials, complaining that the selected design by Rodney Leon of AARRIS Architects (rendering above) is too large and overwhelms the 5-acre plot. A preferred design is one by Cheryl McKissack of McKissack & McKissack, which leaves more of the ground in tact by having displays around the grounds. The opposition comes from the Committee of the Descendants of the Afrikan Ancestral Burial Ground, which claims that nothing was supposed to be built on the ground; supporters of the design, which include Representative Charles Rangel and Howard Dodson, told the Times "There's never been any question about whether or not a memorial should go on the site." There will probably be further discussions about which design is better, but given that it's been over a decade since the site has been found, it just goes to show that planning a memorial is a complex process, full of many opinions.
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I agree with those who see this design as overdone. After all, this is an existing gravesite. This design seems like a boon-doggle made for museum-oriented public officials.
I feel that the best meorial at a gravesite is something simple, with feeling. This choosen design seems like an over-wrought dish.
Damn! That's tacky.
Ewww, and the other one gets an equally bitter ewww for fencing in the site. Doesn't NY have enough fences and bars up? I believe simpler the better, and one with out prison bars.
As I recall, Brooklyn’s Fort Green monument for the 5000 plus souls of the British prison ships took about close to a hundred years to come up with a design.
Its stately, but I don't think many people realize what it is.
it looks like it could have come from the same artist who gave us the union square building art. contrived, tacky and trite.
The design is not representational of an african memorial. first of all the competition(who holds a competition for a burial ground!) should have been made to include an african designer/artist. Then it may have had more credibility within the community it tries to speak to. But it would have had more integrity if it was left green and open or if original african grave sites were adopted. I dont know anything about them but they dont use polished granite. How can a city allow an architect to design a memorial that blows a budget and also negates the desire of the ancestors for whom it is made. It will become a memorial to the mistake it makes. Hopefully the city can learn from this and take these lessons to ground zero. I would reccomend a center off site that can be more extensive and more subtle.