Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial

Washington, DC

The city of Washington DC inquired for there to be a memorial added to the mall of DC that commemorated the victims and survivors of the Vietnam War. Memorial architecture in post-WWII Washington transitioned from monumental to universal architecture to prioritize the symbolism behind the survivors’ loss rather than celebrating a victory. These types of architecture are unique in that “it is one of the few types of architecture whose fundamental function is not to shelter but rather to feel and to remember.”1 Washington wanted a subtle design to respond well to the landscape of the chosen site. The site for the monument was chosen under the guidance of the National Parks Service, and a design contest was organized for candidates to anonymously submit a memorial design. As a part of the studio curriculum, a professor at Yale organized a project in his architectural course where every student of his would submit a memorial design for the new Vietnam Memorial competition. Maya Lin, who was taking his course submitted her design. Although she received a B for a grade, she was the announced winner of the competition, beating over 1400 competitors - that included both her classmates and professor, who also submitted a design. Maya Lin has mentioned in interviews how she wonders if she would have been selected if her submittal was under Maya Lin, instead of as an anonymous contestant with a number.

As a part of her design, Maya Lin responded well to the commission’s inquiries for both a subtle memorial design and an apolitical symbol. She created an unchanged monument of moving composition, and by doing so respected the topography of the site. Her design “Uses traditional forms of sculpture and monument dotted around a landscape.” The descent towards the origin is slow and is best understood by moving through the site. One’s movement is directed intentionally to arrive and depart towards the site from two paths led by the wall’s faces; no other paths of arrival are permitted on the lawn of Washington Mall. Maya Lin’s design resembles a “striking gash” in the landscape that remedies Washington’s inquiry for a non-sheltering nor monumental architecture. The subtle design by Maya Lin makes the whole landscape feel manicured and intentional. In an aerial, the memorial points like a compass towards more monuments within the mall. The two arms open 125 degrees; one towards the Lincoln Memorial, the other towards the Washington Monument. Although her memorial design is meant to be apolitical with its lack of patriotic symbols, each arm is oriented toward another monument within the Washington Mall that is a reflective part of America’s Political History.

How the site is used and visited today by new generations is how the experience of the Vietnam War is brought into the present. The names of every victim from the war are written on the faces of black stones that are hung from the retainment structure. The names of the victims are not written in alphabetical order, however; the names are listed chronologically by the date of their death. The act of tracing a loved one’s name that is engraved into the wall is a personal way for every visitor to both engage and interact with the wall. Paper slips and pencils are provided for visitors to bring a piece of the wall back home with them. When an individual approaches the wall’s face of the wall to better read its names, one can see themselves very vividly through the reflection of the wall. Seeing this reflection feels like peering into the looking glass, and witnessing a world where the fallen victims exist. The monument was constructed for the victims of the Vietnam War. The monument was intrinsically needed to validate the emotions of the victim’s families and provide a public place to grieve with others who empathize. Maya Lin’s memorial provides a place where “one can remember, mourn, and try to make sense of intangible emotion….humans have always needed something permanent and tangible to make sense of loss,” and by providing an abstract landscape to make sense of the loss, victims are able to physically connect with both past and present.1