The National AIDS Memorial Grove is a seven-acre dell in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California, a living tribute to all whose lives have been touched by AIDS. It is a place where people gather to heal, hope, and remember. AIDS knows no class, geographic, or cultural distinctions in the United States or throughout the world; therefore, our design for the new memorial is egalitarian. Like the grove wherein it stands, our design is living memorial, a continuously evolving monument of memory, reflection and hope.

The memorial begins with a wall that gradually turns into the ground surface. Visitors are greeted by the white ferro-concrete wall as they slowly descend into the earth following its twisting movement. A series of openings, representing the countless victims whose lives have been touched by AIDS, perforate this twisting plane. Each opening is uniform and at the same time becomes distinct as the sunlight casts through them at different angles throughout the day and throughout the year. Visitors can express their feelings and interact with the memorial wall by leaving notes, flowers, ribbons or other memorabilia placed in the openings. On special occasions, thousands of candles can be lit up throughout the wall in vigil.

As we progress through the memorial and into the earth, these openings will filter sunlight into the space, creating rays of light in contrast to the darkness. This spatial composition provides a journey for each visitor to experience and contemplate the emotions of mortality and isolation, and finally to discover strength and hope. From this vantage point, we will see silhouettes of other visitors approaching from the light. And as we ascend, these anonymous figures slowly reveal their faces--faces of a father, a child, a wife, a brother, a neighbor, a friend, or a husband.

The sound of flowing water greets us as we reemerge into the sunlight. To our left, we see the line of a black granite pool, and to our right, we encounter notes and other objects left behind by other visitors in the wall openings. As we look back, we will see that the wall where we started has completely become part of the ground. The openings that exist on this ground surface are planted with red poppies. The memorial will be filled with red color as these flowers bloom in the summer and become a contrasting stark white as the flowers fade in the winter. From the journey that we have taken through the monument, we realize that where some end their journey is where others start.