EISENHOWER MEMORIAL
Photography by Halkin Mason Photography, All Rights Reserved.
By RANDY REID
I
n the past decade, the lighting industry has seen major changes in its available technology. In fact, the reality is that so much of the lighting technology we rely on today did not exist ten years ago. Hervé Descottes and his team at L'Observatoire International experienced this progression firsthand while working on the Eisenhower Memorial in Washington, D.C. This project was commissioned in 2009 to honor President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his legacy of patriotism, public service, and pragmatism. The Eisenhower Memorial Commission envisioned a site that reflected President Eisenhower’s devotion to the values of democracy. Dreamed up by award-winning architect Frank Gehry, the memorial sits at
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— designing lighting
the base of Capitol Hill between the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Education, and the Department of Health in Human Services, symbolizing the significant changes that President Eisenhower made to national infrastructure. The memorial features a 45-foot tall stainless-steel tapestry, bronze statues, and stone bas reliefs inscribed with words from his D-Day address and inaugural address. Descottes and his team began working on the design in 2009. At the time the project was based around the use of metal halide lights per the guidance of the Washington DC Parks Department. “Because of maintenance, light sources were such an important factor in this type of public project. When we design a project like this, we have to think long
term, but 5 years ago, it was extremely restricted and very important to follow the guidelines of the city,” said Descottes, “We could not suggest any other light source than what they already had in the book.” According to Descottes, the team began talking about the way in which potential advances in lighting technology would change the scope of the project from the time they looked at the first model for the memorial. He credits team member Jenny Ivansson with convincing the city to change their minds towards the use of LEDs. Around 2017, L’Observatoire was able to issue their plans, and by then they had convinced the National Park Service to future-proof the memorial by converting everything to LED. “At that