Washington Monument, Washington, D.C.

An elegant solution to a tremendous problem. The landscape architect has put the focus back on the monument and provided security through gentle grading and beautiful amenities, like trees and seating. The resolution of the geometry is very simple and sophisticated."

— 2008 Professional Awards Jury Comments




PROJECT STATEMENT: The revitalized Washington Monument articulates the site’s character and identity within the context of the National Mall and demonstrates the art and craft of landscape architecture in a very prominent place. The design is bold and clear; a minimalist solution that turned a project originally funded to prevent terrorism into a handsome civic amenity. It is proof that the union of sound security and artful design is not only possible, but can be functional and graceful.

PROJECT NARRATIVE: The Washington Monument is an icon of American freedom and democracy. Its 72-acre grounds play a vital cultural role, providing a public space for demonstrations, celebrations, entertainment and recreation for millions of people each year. A need to upgrade exterior security provisions came to the forefront after 9/11, leading to an invited design competition for the Monument grounds. The landscape architect won the competition with an elegant security solution, and in the process, successfully proposed much needed landscape improvements. The Washington Monument grounds had become unattractive and the Monument was left standing in a disrespectful and unacceptable physical setting. The grounds consisted of an irregular and poorly-graded hill with struggling eroded grass, cracked concrete and asphalt drives used for walks that ran straight up the hill violating contemporary standards for accessibility. A poorly-designed and disfiguring concrete block hot dog stand had been built against the historic Monument lodge on the central axis toward the United States Capitol. A surface parking lot marred the view on axis with the White House. Huge bunkers on each of the compass points housed outmoded search lights for evening illumination, providing both a blinding hazard and huge clouds of insects at the ground near the Monument. The concrete Jersey barriers and squad cars ringing the Monument part way up the mound contributed to the ground’s ills.


From the outset of the project, the design intent was to determine how best to turn an anti-terrorist defense project into a welcoming civic space. The history of the site, its dimensions and proportions, circulation routes, and research regarding contemporary vehicular barriers and bomb blasts were intensely researched. Since the Monument sits atop a significant hill, disabled access was also studied. In addition, traditional, unobtrusive fencing and barrier designs of 18th century European estates were considered for their effectiveness as physical deterrents. Landscape architects have designed barriers for centuries. In 18th century England and France, sunken walls were frequently employed to prevent livestock from gaining access to country houses and chateaus while providing visual continuity. It was also noted that Olmsted and Vaux had used low stone walls to resolve grading issues and direct the movement of pedestrian and horse-drawn vehicles at the United States Capitol grounds. Deploying a combination of these two strategies, a scheme was developed.

The design brings resolution to the landscape deftly. Representative of this are the low 30-inch granite-finished walls. The curving walls are configured in a graceful pattern appropriate to the spirit of the Mall and the Monument. They safeguard against automobiles and trucks entering the site and also provide a resting place without distraction from one’s view.

Nissan installs solar panels in Barcelona plant

As part of its ongoing efforts to reduce CO2 emissions at its manufacturing sites and promote the use of renewable energy sources, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd, will install 606 solar panels at its Barcelona vehicle plant by the end of this summer.

Together the 606 solar panels at Barcelona will cover a surface of 3,000 square-metres and generate 308,000 kWh of electricity per year, while reducing CO2 emissions by 110 tons.

Of the total, 480 are photovoltaic panels which convert sunlight directly into electricity and have already started operations. The remaining 126 panels, which will be put in place by the end of the summer, are thermal panels which will be used for heating water for the vehicle paint process, among other industrial purposes.

The Barcelona plant is the second Nissan plant in Spain to install solar panels, making Nissan the first automotive company in Spain to widely introduce solar power at its factories. In February, Nissan announced it would install a total of 732 solar panels at its light commercial vehicle plant in Avila this summer resulting in savings of 267 tons of CO2 emissions every year.

Reducing CO2 emissions from both its products and day-to-day operations is a top priority for Nissan under the Nissan Green Program 2010, its midterm environmental plan announced last December. As part of that plan, Nissan has said it aims to reduce CO2 emissions from its manufacturing plants by 7% compared with the level in 2005.

In addition to Spain, Nissan is also using renewable energy at its Sunderland vehicle plant in the UK, where it has erected six wind turbines. The six turbines generate 5% of the plant�s annual electricity, while cutting CO2 emissions by 3,300 tons a year.

Nissan has 6,800 employees in Spain and produced more than 200,000 vehicles in 2006.

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Use USO funds for rural mobile charging centres’

Thomas K. Thomas


New Delhi, March 5 Recognising that lack of adequate power is stunting the growth of mobile services in rural areas, The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has suggested that money from the Universal Services Obligation fund should be utilised to set up mobile charging centres in villages.

In States such as West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the extent of mobile coverage is higher than the number of villages electrified. Though in other States, electric coverage is higher, the statistics is only on paper.

TRAI said that although 80 per cent of the villages have been electrified up to March 2008, in practice, the frequent and long interruptions in the electricity supply put a large number of the villages at par with the non-electrified ones.

Tapping solar power


TRAI has suggested that the USO fund, which has about Rs 20,000 crore lying unutilised, should work out the cost of providing mobile chargers which can work with solar power or little power supply in rural areas.

Accordingly, a fixed amount of subsidy may be extended to those service providers who have installed towers in rural areas, for installing such mobile chargers. “Considering the difficulties in the availability and reliability of electricity, even though the telecom infrastructure is developed, a need is felt to facilitate the charging of mobile handsets as this is the prime instrument for the mobile users.

The service providers who have reached by installing tower in the rural vicinity would be the right agency to facilitate the mobile charging facility,” the regulator said.

TRAI has also suggested the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, should be amended to involve State level agencies to enable growth of mobile services. “State electricity boards should provide power supply to rural base stations on priority basis. DoT shall issue a broad framework to help State governments to form State-specific telecom policy,” the regulator said.

Meanwhile equipment makers and technology companies are also working on bringing energy-efficient systems to rural India. Ericsson, for example, has started a pilot to run telecom towers on bio-gas. Other vendors such as Nokia have base stations that consumer less power