The history of New York City is inextricably bound to the history of the AIDS Epidemic. Over 100,000 New Yorkers have died from AIDS, yet the city still has no significant public memorial to the friends, loved ones, family members, and fellow citizens lost during the crisis.

Architizer and Architectural Record are happy to present a new design competition to change that. Keep reading.

At the height of the epidemic in the 1980s, New York City’s West Village neighborhood was considered the geographic center of those battling AIDS. That was in part because of St. Vincent’s Hospital — at the corner of land at 7th Ave, West 12th Street, and Greenwich Ave — which pioneered one of the most advanced, renowned HIV treatment programs in the world. The hospital became a physical and emotional community node for those affected by the epidemic (indeed, St. Vincents features prominently The Normal Heart and Angels in America, among other cultural touchstones), and still occupies a huge place in the collective memory of the city.

St. Vincents closed in 2010, and its campus will soon become a luxury residential development (like so many cultural institutions bankrupted in the years after the crash). While the onward march of amnesia-stricken NYC real estate developers is inevitable, The New York City AIDS Memorial Park Campaign has successfully called for the creation of a public park and memorial on the site, at a small triangle of land currently occupied by old hospital infrastructure.

After years of building grassroots community support and securing the appropriate clearances and funding, the Campaign is now looking for a design for the site. Today we’re happy to announce the launch of the New York City AIDS Memorial Park Competition. The competition is open to all (regardless of location). Entries are due by January 21, 2012, and a winner’s announcement made on February 1, 2012. More details on rules and entry criteria are available on the competition page.

The Jury will be looking for a proposal that will turn the triangle into both a public park and a “living memorial,” not entirely unlike the brief for the 9/11 Memorial. Appropriate, since Michael Arad (architect of the National September 11 Memorial) is chairing the competition jury. He’s joined by a remarkable cast of luminaries, including Kurt Andersen, Barry Bergdoll, Liz Diller, Robert Hammond, Bill T. Jones, Richard Meier, Dr. Marjorie Hill, Ken Smith, and Suzanne Stephens.

The Architizer team is incredibly excited to be hosting the competition, along with fellow media sponsors, Architectural Record. We’ll be talking a lot more about the Competition in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.

by Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan

posted in Competition

tagged competitions, nyc, NYC AIDS Memorial Design Competition, parks, The New York City AIDS Memorial Park Campaign

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