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The Ideas Lab Public Feedback booklet captures more than 1,000 participants responses over four months to surveys on the Tidal Basin Ideas Lab website. Presented through personal accounts and infographics, the booklet provides a snapshot of public reaction to the designs and offers commentary on the visitor experience. Surveys remain open and will be continuously collected. If you haven’t done so already, complete the surveys here.

The Ideas Lab Key Themes booklet evaluates four common areas of focus that emerged from the Ideas Lab proposals. They are presented here to inspire discussion with the National Park Service, stakeholders, and the public to support a long-term vision that addresses the myriad challenges to the Tidal Basin.

Each year thousands of visitors walk along the shore of Washington, D.C.’s Tidal Basin to enjoy the blossoming cherry trees and visit monuments to leaders such as Thomas Jefferson and Martin Luther King, Jr. Its beauty is matched by the complexity of the Tidal Basin’s many meanings by visitors from around the world.

But this iconic memorial landscape is under threat. Rising sea levels compromise the basin's historic resources and visitors’ experiences, creating hazardous flooding on the sidewalks and compromising the roots of our beloved cherry trees. To protect this cultural landscape, the National Trust, together with Trust for the National Mall and the National Park Service, asked five prestigious landscape architecture firms to reimagine the Tidal Basin, and their innovative proposals have sparked new thinking about what this landscape can become.

If you have ever visited this local National Treasure, the National Trust would like feedback about your experience. Share your thoughts with a short survey; the responses will help inform decisions about the future of the Tidal Basin's design.

The Tidal Basin is the crown jewel of Washington, D.C.'s National Mall. It is home to some of the nation’s most iconic landmarks, including the Jefferson Memorial, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. And every year, thousands flock to see the blooming of its historic cherry trees, a gift from Japan in 1912.

But the Tidal Basin, a National Trust National Treasure, is under threat. Silt and water from the nearby Potomac Flats make it unstable, and the conditions they create compromise the site’s historic resources and visitor experiences. Each day at high tide, water floods the surrounding sidewalks, making them impassable and endangering the roots of the cherry trees.

In a bid to save the celebrated landscape, the National Trust, together with Trust for the National Mall and the National Park Service, unveiled proposals from five prestigious landscape architecture firms—DLANDstudio, GGN, Hood Design Studio, James Corner Field Operations, and Reed Hilderbrand—to reimagine the future of the Tidal Basin and National Mall. Explore their designs.

After reviewing the designs, let us know what you think! Share your thoughts by taking the Tidal Basin design survey. Your responses will help us demonstrate the need for critical and urgent action.

This week, the Tidal Basin Ideas Lab—a partnership between the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Trust for the National Mall, and the National Park Service, alongside civic partner Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)—unveiled proposals from five leading landscape architecture firms that reimagine the future of Washington D.C.’s iconic Tidal Basin and National Mall. Visit the online exhibition to learn more about the Tidal Basin's histories and challenges, as well as to share feedback on the ideas for its evolution.

The National Mall Tidal Basin Ideas Lab—a collaborative forum to address major challenges facing the Tidal Basin—has taken on new meaning amid the pandemic. In this dynamic Q&A introduced by National Trust President Paul Edmondson, principals from the five participating landscape architecture firms discuss their bold and provocative approaches to preserving, enhancing, and revitalizing this iconic National Treasure.