RDGPlanning&Design

SIZE/SCOPE

The landscape architect led a four-month planning process resulting in two acres of park improvements that unify four existing memorials installed at different times, restore a portion of the adjacent pond shoreline, integrate new artwork, and create a place for people to reflect, connect, contemplate, and reconcile. Schmitt Island consists of 265 acres of land on the Mississippi River and is a stone’s throw from downtown Dubuque. Once an airfield and city dump, Schmitt Island is now home toa varied mix of public amenities.

DESIGN PROGRAM/DESIGN INTENT

Reconfigure, reimagine, and expand a Veterans Memorial by carefully preserving significant portions of the memorial while creatively connecting and merging nearby monuments into one cohesive experience.

Materials And Installation Methods

Much consideration was given to the selection of new materials to integrate with the existing palette of black granite walls and benches and limestone obelisks. Existing pavers engraved with veteran’s names were gently removed, stored, and subsequently reinstalled into a more unified pavement layout. Following the golden mean, an everunwinding path of charcoal concrete is introduced into the matrix of pavers. This path leads from an immense existing granite globe at the center of the memorial to the boardwalk and culminates at “Skyward”.This23-foot tall, nine-ton sculpture, made of 1” thick milled and welded stainless steel, was fabricated near Des Moines and transported in one piece190 miles to the site. The final placement required a large construction crane that moved the piece to its final resting place suspended 20’ feet over the water at the prow of the boardwalk.

Environmental Impacts And Concerns

Due to the site’s previous use as a city landfill, the project required deep footings to place a 160’ long boardwalk on the pond that concludes with a substantial art piece, “Skyward”. The shoreline along the length of the project site was planted with native mesic prairie and aquatic species to create wildlife habitats and help beautify the pond’s edge.

Collaboration

The landscape architect led a multi-disciplined team of civil, electrical, and structural engineers and a broader team of artists, lighting designers, irrigation specialists, graphic designers, and landscape architects to create a unique, revitalized, and enhanced veterans memorial. The landscape architect provided principal design and leadership of the consultants and served as the primary point of contact. In addition, we prepared the construction documents and administered the construction process. Community involvement was an important aspect of this project. The landscape architect coordinated conversations and input meetings with veterans, community stakeholders, and regulating agencies to build consensus and inspire philanthropy. Gathered from conversations with many veterans from many wars and conflicts were the words respect, honor, sacrifice, serenity, and gratitude. It was from these foundational words that the design was advanced.

Special Factors And Project Significance

The site is home to Dubuque’s Veterans Memorial Plaza, the Tri-State Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and an existing memorial honoring local veteran Father Aloysius H. Schmitt, a chaplain of the United States Navy aboard the USS Oklahoma during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Chaplain Schmitt gave the ultimate sacrifice after he hoisted multiple sailors to freedom through a small porthole as the ship sank. The restructuring and expansion of the Veterans Memorial Plaza were subject to multiple political perspectives, differing veteran voices, and significant regulatory requirements. This required a complex process for decision-making, consensus-building, and design integration.

The art piece “Skyward” was primarily designed by two landscape architects on the team and conceived as a solemn tribute to all veterans calling the Dubuque area their home. This pinnacle element culminates one’s journey through the memorial along the spiraling pathway with an invitation to enter a stainless-steel fold. It honors those who gave of themselves, and for some, gave the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our country. Pierced with openings that suggest falling rain tears from the heavens, it symbolically rests over water to suggest a suspension between earth and sky, the piece implies the moment between life and death. Once inside Skyward, the guest is met with WI veteran Edward Thomas's poem “Rain” etched into the surface, the stanzas woven among the descending raindrops.‘...Blessed are the dead that the rains rain upon/But here I pray that none whom once I loved / is dying here tonight or lying still awake...’As the piece unfolds and ascends, guests lift their eyes to the sky.

Parks, Recreation & Open Space Design - MERIT AWARD