About the Design

In conjunction with Architectural Record and Architizer, the NYC AIDS Memorial launched an international design competition in November 2011, chaired by Michael Arad, the National September 11 Memorial designer, to generate ideas for the memorial park design. Nearly 500 architects from around the world submitted designs. Studio a+i, led by Mateo Paiva, Lily Lim, and Esteban Erlich, won the competition to become the park’s architect. Their design features an 18-foot white triangular steel canopy, central granite water fountain, and benches, which serve as the dramatic gateway to the new New York City AIDS Memorial Park at St. Vincent’s Triangle in the West Village.

Renowned visual artist Jenny Holzer chose and arranged passages from “Song of Myself” (1855), poet Walt Whitman’s transcendent celebration of hope, unity, and human dignity, engraved in the Memorial’s granite pavement. The Memorial is a place of contemplation and provides a shelter for reflection and remembrance of the men, women, and children lost to AIDS. It also serves as a gathering place and reminder of the work to defeat the disease.