Oehme, van Sweden & Associates
Wolfgang Oehme
James van Sweden
This 7.4-acre memorial, which opened to the public in 2004, is centrally located on the National Mall. It was designed by Friedrich St. Florian in association with Leo A Daly and George Hartman, along with sculptor Raymond Kaskey and Oehme, van Sweden. The project, van Sweden said, “was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done.”[1] Along with working on the lighting, paving, drainage, and grading, the firm used a palette of white-flowering plants—symbolizing the spirit of remembrance—that expands outward from the memorial’s perimeter, softening its edge and integrating the site into surrounding parkland.
A lot of what we did—and this is where we come into how complicated landscape architecture is—isn’t even visible.[2]
National World War II Memorial website
The Artful Garden. see resources
[1] Jill Gleeson, “What I’ve Learned: Reinventing the Garden,” Washingtonian, April 1, 2008.
[2] Ibid.
Roger Foley (American, b. 1951)
Foley earned a B.A. in art from the University of Notre Dame with a concentration in photography. He published his first solo book, A Clearing in the Woods: Creating Contemporary Gardens in 2009, and his work has won top honors from the Garden Writers Association. His photography can be found in hundreds of books, and his commercial work has been featured in magazines, newspapers, and websites. He conducts workshops and frequently lectures for various groups, including the American Horticultural Society, and the Garden Club of America.