World War I Memorial with Liberty Memorial Study

Fall 2021

Studio 3, Graphite

This was another two-part project. In the first part, we were tasked with creating an analytique of the Liberty Memorial World War I Museum in downtown Kansas City. This analytique was to be our first graphite rendering, and we first produced a half-scale version of what our final would be, both in design and rendering.

For the final, we were tasked with designing a WWI monument of our own for Benedictine College’s campus. The monument is located at the Northwest end of the main academic quad of the college and is at an irregular conjunction of three paths. I decided to use the circular tholos type, both because it represents eternity and because practically, it can be approached from any side.

The circular altar and the tripods on top of the veiled pylons are both representations of the sacrifice made by those who served. The wreaths in the metopes and on top of the altar represents victory while the shield represents the soldiers themselves. The pylons bear the names of those who served while the veils on the pylons represent the mourning of those who were left behind. On the back, there is a staircase down the hill leading to a niche with an urn, representing loss. The seven columns represent the seven Sacraments that would have nourished the students while they were at Saint Benedict’s College. This all combines to make a powerful, yet gracefully simple, monument to those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the First World War.

Above: World War I Memorial Analytique. Graphite.