About this talk

Running time: 40 minutes

Lawrence Halprin won the competition for a Memorial to Franklin D. Roosevelt in Washington D.C. some years ago, but it was actually realised and completed at the end of 1997. For the site alongside the Potomac River, Halprin's solution was not a monument, but a long processional experience stretching between the Lincoln and Jefferson Monuments.

The route is divided into four linked outdoor rooms, each devoted to one of Roosevelt's terms in office, enclosed by a twelve foot high granite wall which becomes the spine of the experience. On this wall are engraved quotations from Roosevelt's "Fireside Talks", and hanging from it are sculptures and cascades of water.

The four thousand stones of different size, shape and thickness that comprise the wall had each to be designed in clay, before going through the complicated manufacturing processes leading to the final manageable sizes in granite.

This is his second talk for Pidgeon Digital, you may also be interested to hear him talking about the influence of nature in his work in The Ecology Of Form.

Please note that a transcript of this talk is available - please contact us for further details.