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Written by WiG
Jan 31, 2012
Infinite Forest
Organizers of New York City's proposed AIDS Memorial Park this week announced the winner of their design competition.
First place was awarded to Brooklyn studio a+I – Mateo Paiva, Lily Lim, John Thurtle, Insook Kim, and Esteban Erlich, with a rendering by Guillaume Paturel – for the "Infinite Forest."
The design was selected from 475 entries submitted between Nov. 29, 2011, and Jan. 21.
Entries came from 26 U.S. states and 32 countries on six continents.
"The proposed AIDS Memorial Park commemorates the past while embracing the present and the future," said jury chair Michael Arad of Handel Architects. “The winning design creates a space for reflection, awareness and recognition, while acknowledging the history of the disease.”
The proposed location of the park is a 17,000 square-foot triangle-shaped plot of land bordered by Seventh Avenue, 12th Street and Greenwich Avenue in New York City's West Village. The property stands across the street from the former St. Vincent’s Hospital. Following St. Vincent's bankruptcy in April 2010, Rudin Management Company acquired the entire medical campus, with plans to turn the property into luxury residences including new public open space at the triangle site.
The redevelopment received unanimous approval by the New York City Planning Commission at a meeting on Jan. 23. The city council is expected to vote next month.
Arad said the site at St. Vincent's is significant because it is intimately tied to the history of AIDS – the early history of the crisis.
“It was important that the jury's selection should ultimately deliver a public space that serves as both a neighborhood park and an AIDS memorial of significance," he said.
Christopher Tepper and Paul Kelterborn, co-founders of the AIDS Memorial Park Coalition, said in a statement, “The winning concept inspires us, and is the starting point for an iterative process to design a green oasis with an AIDS memorial for the community and New York City. We look forward to working with all parties to make this dream a reality.”
Arad presided over the design competition's diverse jury, whose members include journalist Kurt Andersen, Columbia University professor Barry Bergdoll, fashion designer Kenneth Cole, architect Elizabeth Diller, actress Whoopi Goldberg, Friends of the High Line director Robert Hammond, POZ Magazine editor Regan Hofmann, Manhattan Community Board Chair Brad Hoylman, Visual AIDS director Amy Sadao, landscape architect Ken Smith and editor Suzanne Stephens.
On behalf of the winning team, Paiva said, “We are honored that our proposal, ‘Infinite Forest,’ was chosen as the winner, and we would like to express our gratitude to the AIDS Memorial Park Coalition as well as the distinguished panel of judges. Through this design, we hope not only to honor the profound losses and ongoing struggles of those affected by AIDS, but also to reflect the changing and infinite ways in which AIDS affects us personally and as a society.”
Hours after the coalition announced a winner in the contest, Rudin issued a statement of concern with the design and said it wanted to proceed with its own landscaping plan and memorial concept.
