When Lee and Associates formed a joint venture with Centex Construction Company to compete for the Design/Build contract for the Pentagon 9-11 Memorial, the emphasis of the venture was on quality from the beginning. Centex Lee committed to assembling the very best team, developing a collaborative approach appropriately sensitive to the project, and creatively addressing the technical and constructability challenges of the design concept.

On the design side, Principal Jeff Lee put together his version of a “dream team” based upon successful past experiences and particularly fruitful collaborations. His first call was to fountain consultants CMS Collaborative of Santa Cruz, California. CMS was busily at work designing the fountain at the National World War II Memorial, but accepted the invitation to join the Centex Lee Pentagon Memorial team. Delon Hampton & Associates, Chartered came onboard as civil and structural engineers. The Syska Hennessy Group had recently finished rebuilding the Pentagon as part of the Phoenix Project team, which gave them a unique enthusiasm to join the team. Knowing DOD’s commitment to sustainable design from experience on the Pentagon’s Metro Entrance Facility and other projects, Lee called the Low Impact Development (LID) Center. Light’n Up, a DC-based firm, was asked to provide lighting expertise. On the “build” side, Centex Construction Company took a similar approach, assembling an exceptionally talented group of subcontractors including Valley Crest, MC Dean, and Southland Industries.

The full team began meeting to develop the proposal within days of coming together. The proposal process culminated in an oral presentation that Centex Lee made to the Pentagon Renovation office, family members and concept designers Keith Kaseman and Julie Beckman on July 9, 2003. Six weeks and a round of proposal revisions later, Centex Lee was honored to learn their efforts had paid off. The team joined members of the Pentagon Memorial Steering Committee (now the Pentagon Memorial Fund, Inc.) and Pentagon Renovation & Construction Program Office (PENREN/C) officials in a contract signing ceremony in August, 2003.

The Pentagon Memorial Project is unique for many reasons. Although PENREN/C administers the contract and manages the work, the responsibility to raise the funds to build the Memorial lies with the Pentagon Memorial Fund, comprised of nine volunteer Directors who lost loved ones at the Pentagon or on Flight 77 on September 11, 2001. The initiative and commitment of these and other family members sparked the international design competition that selected the winning design in 2002, and fueled the search for a Design/Build partner in 2003. The most substantial effort, that to raise 30 million dollars to build and maintain the Memorial, began in earnest with the establishment of the 501c3 Pentagon Memorial Fund, Inc. in April of 2004.

The deliberate progress of the Memorial realized an important milestone when Centex Lee held a full team charrette, the project’s first formal design activity, at the National Building Museum on Tuesday June 8 through Thursday June 10, 2004.

Many of the sixty-four participants that came together that Tuesday met for the first time. Working with the Pentagon Memorial Fund and the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Office of Family Policy, Centex Lee had invited the family members of all 184 victims, and some “new” families joined those whose efforts continue to propel the project forward. Washington Headquarter Services, the arm of DOD considered the “owner” of the Pentagon sent representatives from both PENREN/C, the administrators of the project, and Defense Facilities Directorate (WHS-DFD), the entity that will ultimately maintain and operate the Memorial.

Concept designers Julie Beckman and Keith Kaseman’s participation in the charrette marked their first collaboration with the full Centex Lee team. Because Beckman and Kaseman advised PENREN/C during the procurement process, Centex Lee could not consult them in formulating their design/build approach. Design activities in the months between the contract signing and the charrette were limited to research and development efforts involving only the concept designers and Centex Lee’s project managers, so the charrette was their first chance to work with all sub-consultants.

The goal of the charrette’s first day was to build consensus among the stakeholders in order to guide the design/build process moving forward. In morning sessions, the concept designers, the families, Washington Headquarter Services and Centex Lee made presentations explaining the design concept, why the families selected it, where it would be built and how Centex Lee will build it. Jim Laychak, President of the Pentagon Memorial Fund, made the morning’s final presentation on the fund raising effort.

The afternoon session was held as a forum, with participants asked to share questions and concerns to help guide the design team’s effort over the subsequent days. Participants discussed the potential for connections between the Pentagon Memorial, Arlington Cemetery, and the Airforce Memorial. The group commented on the first concept put forward for the park’s entrance, the Memorial Gateway. Topics ranged from specific concerns, like the growth patterns of Paperbark Maples, to more general discussions about ADA accessibility, accommodating large groups of school children, and signage. WHS-DFD emphasized maintainability, sustainability, and general operational considerations, organizing their concerns into two presentations. Centex Lee documented each issue and posted lists organized by topics on the room’s walls. These lists were ultimately incorporated into materials used during Wednesday and Thursday’s design discussions.

The June 8 session ended with a reception held in the Building Museum’s elegant Pension Commissioner’s Suite. The spirit of collaboration and enthusiasm carried into the evening, and the Memorial continued to be the primary topic of many informal conversations.

Wednesday and Thursday’s format and agenda were more traditional for a design charrette. A focused group of thirty-seven core team members participated, including a new project “partner,” the Carondolet Foundry Corp. Carondolet was recently selected to cast the Memorial Units out of highly corrosion resistant super duplex stainless steel.

Keith Kaseman demonstrated how the three-dimensional model for the Memorial Unit had been streamlined and optimized to reduce material in the cast and improve performance. A free flowing exchange of ideas ensued covering topics ranging from the integration of the pool and lighting systems, foundations and connections, and lighting effects and finishes. As many of the elements of the park are integrated- the Memorial Units with the Agelines, the Agelines with the Perimeter Bench, the tree trenches within the Agelines, etc.- the two days of sessions were lively, full, and productive.

Pentagon Memorial Fund President Jim Laychak lost his brother David in the attack on the Pentagon. Laychak sat through all three days of the charrette. Unwilling to sacrifice time that might translate into fundraising progress, he monitored some sessions while quietly working on his laptop. “I was impressed by the talent of the group, and especially with their constructive approach to everything. Whether the discussion was about concerns raised by a family member during the first day or a design detail, everyone responded by devising solutions. There was a lot of enthusiasm and energy, which was great to experience.”