Princeton held a competition for an installation to best wrestle with Woodrow Wilson’s complicated legacy. The main design challenge was to acknowledge both Wilson’s triumphs – his ambitious foreign policy and advances in higher education – and his shortcomings, in his racist proposals for federal employees and support for segregation. Understanding history is not a culmination of a single voice but of many. Bronze plaques embedded in the granite paving symbolically demonstrate the power of incremental over monumental and the equality of all voices.

Using excavation and surgical insertion, we create a new overlay of engagement. Open space is preserved and enhanced for social and collegiate gathering. Both media-driven and physical elements celebrate missing voices.

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As lead designer, I worked with a design team including U/X designers to develop the concept and produce renderings. Ultimately, Princeton decided to not pursue the project. Studio Joseph won an AIA New York State Design Citation award for the project.