The National Mall Design Competition is a three-stage competition, through which a Jury of esteemed professionals will select a Design Team for each of three redesign sites identified by the National Mall Plan: Union Square, the Washington Monument grounds at Sylvan Theater and Constitution Gardens.

The three-stage competition process includes (1) portfolio evaluations to select up to eight potential lead designers for each site, (2) team interviews to select up to five potential design teams for each site, and (3) a design competition to select a design for each site.

The Problem
The National Mall has been loved to death. It is our country’s most visited national park, with more than 25 million annual visitors and 3,000 annual permitted events. This 700-acre park was not built to withstand this level of use and has not received adequate resources to be restored and maintained to a level befitting its role as an irreplaceable piece of our American fabric.

The Mission
The Trust for the National Mall is the official non-profit of the National Park Service dedicated to restoring and improving the National Mall. Our mission is simply to make the National Mall the best park in the world.

The Plan
The National Park Service’s National Mall Plan defines a vision for this iconic space. The National Mall, the premiere civic and symbolic space in our nation, will be respectfully rehabilitated and refurbished so that very high levels of use can be perpetuated. The needs of all visitors and users can be met in an attractive, convenient, high-quality, energy-efficient and sustainable manner.

The Competition
To accomplish these goals the Trust for the National Mall is sponsoring a design competition for three key areas on the National Mall. Together these locations illustrate the cohesive approach necessary to prepare the National Mall for the types and levels of use it receives today and prepare it for greater use in the future.