Any intervention in Washington's Monumental precinct must begin by confronting its' two incessant protagonists - Geometry and Landscape. Like two dancers, they dodge and thrust, sometimes in unison, often in tension, always in counterpoint. Needless to say, Landscape prefers to lead, but often Geometry, through sheer force of will, has the last word.

This particular site finds our protagonists in characteristic posture. Though bounded on all sides by green, and holding fast to terra firma, the site's most prominent feature is surely the axis which links the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. Landscape pavilions they may well be, but not the follies of a picturesque Arcadia. Rather, thanks to L'Enfant's vision, these pieces are linked one to another both spatially and perhaps more importantly, mythically. That the American Pantheon should be a garden is perhaps appropriate, as the landscape has always been our determining cultural variable.

Dr. King understood our unique position as a Republic in the Landscape, as his frequent references to geography and place suggest . He also understood that some of the people who toiled in that landscape were not at home within it. He looked to the Promise of that Republic, which was forged by the founders. He was determined to bring all of us to that Ideal Landscape.

This solution responds to the Mythic Geometry of the city by aligning with the Lincoln-Jefferson axis. Like the Jefferson Memorial, this solution attempts to be simultaneously ideal (bi-axial) and site specific. It is both singular temple, and part of the larger matrix.

The quote from King's legendary speech, (which is affixed to the first board) is quite specific about his version of the Ideal Republic. Drawing from Old Testament sources (Isaiah), King describes the process by which humanity will witness the fulfillment of its destiny. Again, not without coincidence, this is a process of manipulating the landscape. This ideal manipulation was the point of departure for the design solution. The King Memorial should be a sacred precinct, forged of and in the landscape, and representative of the Republic not as it is, but as it should be.

The circular crossing is devoted to King the man. The ambulatory defined by the concrete piers may be read as a timeline, detailing significant events in King's life and career. As the sun traces time across the central court, so visitors may trace time around its perimeter.

There are four auxiliary spaces, also circular, which are devoted to the Movement of which King's voice was most prominent. Each space will contain a monument to a hero from the Civil Rights Movement, all of which will be oriented to the King Statue, which resides at the crossing of the axis in the circular court. King is captured in marble, preaching from a marble lectern.

Visitors to the Memorial will discover the forces which led to King in the discrete spaces on the periphery. The Message will permeate the memorial both in content and in experience. One enters the precinct of the temonos on one of the major axis. As one moves up and into the space, one is forced to part way with one's neighbor, to either side of a reflecting pool, as culture and ignorance divide humanity like a river. When one passes through the 'gates' just prior ro the Circular court, one is reunited with one's fellow travelers. The gates represent the transformation of knowledge.

The memorial is constructed of a Indiana limestone (base, ambulatory walls) reinforced concrete (frame, piers), marble (statues) and hedges. The limestone anchors the memorial to the site, literally and figuratively, as many of the city's monuments contain it. The concrete allows for a structure that is both frame-like and permanent, like the Constitution which frames the laws under which we are governed, and which King fought so tirelessly for. Marble conjures divinity. The hedge, as a spatial device, is both Landscape and Geometry, simultaneously.