Pitt Art Historian Kirk Savage Available to Comment on Washington, D.C.’s National Mall and Proposed Design Changes

PITTSBURGH—As Memorial Day approaches, thoughts turn to the nation’s great monuments and their rich history. To that end, the Trust for the National Mall announced earlier this month several winners in a design competition for selected portions of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. 

Three national architectural firms will redesign Constitution Gardens, a 52-acre park between the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial; the National Sylvan Theatre, just southeast of the Washington Monument; and Union Square, 11 acres of land beyond the west front of the Capitol.

Kirk Savage, professor and chair in Pitt’s Department of the History of Art and Architecture in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, is available to comment on the design proposals and what they could mean for the restoration of the National Mall; he also can address the history of the Mall itself, how it has changed, and how it reflects the American spirit.

Savage is author of the award-winning Monument Wars: Washington, D.C., the National Mall, and the Transformation of the Memorial Landscape (University of California Press, 2009). He has been interviewed by the Washington Post, ABC’s Good Morning America, Smithsonian Magazine, NPR, and artdaily.org, among others.

He is available to discuss:

•  how these ideas will improve or highlight the monuments near these areas;
•  whether it is time to reinterpret these monuments rather than merely highlighting them;
•  which design elements allow viewers to better engage with a monument; 
•  what challenges architects face as they put their plans into place; and
•  how and why the monuments in the nation’s capital have changed.

Savage is available at 412-648-2405 (office); ksa@pitt.edu, or through Sharon Blake.

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