The Urban Sublime: A Park Lodge for the National Mall

Abstract

The National Parks are a beloved element of the United States geography. They are characterized by monumental natural elements such as the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, and Old Faithful geyser at Yellowstone. The National Park System was founded to provide public access to these natural wonders. The original parks all centered around Great Lodges that allowed visitors to not merely to see the scenery, but to live within it – creating profound, sublime experiences of nature.

The National Mall in Washington, D.C. is a National Park. Not only in name, but also in spirit. The Mall is a landscape consisting of monumental structures connected by parkland and accessible mainly by foot. However, the National Mall lacks a Great Lodge of its own. What would it mean to create a Lodge for the Mall? What should a Lodge for the Mall look like? What relationships would be important? Where on the Mall should it go?

This thesis proposes a new Lodge for the National Mall to be built on the hill between the Vietnam Memorial and the Constitution Gardens pond. Guided by the sublime character of the Mall – a grandeur not of wilderness, but of human-made landscape – the project seeks to reveal the Mall's unique place within the National Park System and offer visitors a new way to inhabit this symbolic terrain.