By Megan Jicha
A winning design for Northeastern’s future Veterans Memorial was selected and presented in a small ceremony Nov. 10.
The design was created by three alumni: Mo Zell, Marc Roehrle and Steve Fellmeth, who took home a $10,000 prize for their winning entry.
“Our idea slowly evolved over time,” Zell said. “Once we heard about the contest Marc, Steve and I started developing ideas. We were all interested in the topic and contributing to the NU community.”
The winning proposal suggests a memorial consisting of “two horizontal and one vertical element slipping past one another. Interwoven between these elements is a paved ground plate abstracting the American flag with 13 strips and 50 lights.”
The design calls for maple trees to the north and south of the memorial, as well as four flags, each representing a different branch of the military. Each veteran’s name would be carved on a steel plate resembling a dog tag containing the veteran’s name, rank, hometown, birthdate, death date, department at Northeastern and/or graduation year.
The idea for a memorial was first brought up by the board of trustees, who wanted to construct a space where students who have lost their lives in war could be remembered, said George Thrush, chair of the School of Architecture.
“The board of trustees wanted to heighten people’s awareness of just how many Northeastern students have given their lives in war,” Thrush said.
Although Northeastern does have a plaque in Richards Hall bearing the names of students who died in WWII, the university looks forward to constructing more of a visual memorial, Thrush said.
To get the process rolling, the board of trustees selected a committee to handle the project. The committee, consisting of ROTC members, alumni, members of the board of trustees, architects and designers, decided the best way to collect ideas for the memorial was to turn it into a contest.
“Competition seemed to be a great way to gather ideas from a broad spectrum of people,” said Bill O’Neill, fiscal officer of the Barnett Institute and member of the committee who selected the winners.
The competition was open to everyone, although its focus was on architecture and design students and professionals, Thrush said.
The committee received 66 submissions and formed a judging committee to review the designs. The judges looked for an architecturally sound design, including a small gathering space for reflection that was designed thoughtfully and had space for up to 800 names of the fallen.
Thrush said the jury viewed all submissions blindly, meaning no names of the architects or designers were on the submissions while they were judged.
Ehachai Pattamasattayasonthi, a local professional architect, received an honorable mention. Jeff Carnell, Yule Lee and Jean- Luc Tenahou, New York architects unaffiliated with Northeastern, won third place and a $2,500 prize. Neil Stroup, a local professional architect, took second place and a $5,000 prize.
All prize money came from a fund raised specifically for this contest, Thrush said. Neal Finnegan, chairman of the board of trustees, started the fund with a personal contribution, Thrush said.
Construction on the memorial is set to begin in the spring, although no completion date has been announced. The memorial will be built off Forsyth Street at the current location of the gazebo. When completed, the memorial will be prominently visible from Ruggles Station, Forsyth Street and Centennial Commons.
Besides bringing more visual art to the campus, O’Neill said he hopes the memorial will raise everyone’s awareness and appreciation for all who haven given their lives in war.
“You never know, people you may be passing day in and day out may be the next person to give their lives for our country and be the next name on the memorial. We can’t ignore this sacrifice,” O’Neill said.
