Memory Hall
Kansas City, MO
Built by a city. Carried by generations.
KEY INFO
Client
National WW1 Museum and Memorial
Scale
3000 sqft / 280 sqm
Partners
Electrosonic, Ravenswood Studio, RLMG
CONCEPT
Ten days. That’s how long it took Kansas City to raise the money for a memorial to the First World War in 1919. More than a century later, Kansas City is still shaping what the Memorial means.
“It reminds us of the responsibility that we all have to be playing our part in creating a free and just society.”
Dr. Matthew Naylor, President & CEO
Giving voices to the soldiers
For its centennial, we were invited to reimagine Memory Hall, an original 1920s room that tells the story of the Memorial itself: the site, its symbolism, and the community that built and ultimately saved it. The architecture itself was the main artifact: original murals, bas reliefs, bronze plaques, and ornate architecture. Our work was revealing the meaning already embedded in the room.
Much of that meaning was once universally understood: images of Blue and Gold Star Mothers, the fallen soldier, victory on the home front. A century later, their symbolism needs translating. And the soldiers themselves no longer have living voices to tell us who they were.
Activating memory through experiences
Three anchor experiences bring those stories forward. A tabletop model decodes the architecture and sculpture across the 47-acre site. Visitors activate figures within the Hall’s historic Pantheon mural to discover individual stories of service, while a searchable interactive honors all 441 Kansas City soldiers lost in the war.
Kansas City’s Front Porch carries the story into the present, reflecting on a place where generations have gathered to celebrate, mourn, protest, and remember.
A century after Kansas City built its Memorial, Memory Hall asks what it takes for a community to keep one alive.
