If you’ve ever wanted to see life-size origami, although it’s pretty hard to imagine why you would ever, then you’re in luck.

photo courtesy of AIDS Memorial Park

Say hello the new St. Vincent’s AIDS Memorial.

In a full overhaul of the memorial’s original plan, which basically called for a 17,000 ft. sq. “infinite forest”, the new plan is a 1,600 ft. sq. ivy-covered canopy at the corner 12^th St., 7^th Ave., and Greenwich Ave. that resembles a giant version of the Japanese paper-folding practice. (Actually, don’t watch that. It’s terribly boring.)

According to Architizer, the canopy’s design won the endorsement of the Greenwich Village community board on July 19, and will hopefully break ground next summer. The plan is for the memorial to open by 2014 and to cost around $2 million.

The shrub-ravaged, oversized decoration designed by Studio a+i will “honor New York City’s 100,000+ men, women and children who have died from AIDS, to commemorate and celebrate the efforts of the caregivers and activists who responded to fight the disease, and to recognize the ongoing crisis,” the AIDS Memorial Park’s website says.

The organization has been nobly pulling for the memorial’s construction since 2011.

The canopy will have a circular opening in the middle of its roof, with a circular stone on the ground beneath it. Inscribed around the stone will be poetry and other writing.

Archrecord has an informative slide show of the plans.

Currently standing in the way of the memorial is a defunct branch of St. Vincent’s which will be razed before construction begins, the New York Times says.

To one NY Press writer, the design is an aesthetic abomination. He understands the impracticality of the original plan’s prodigious square footage, but a canopy that looks like someone played Jumanji under it is an unworthy substitute.

–Nick Gallinelli

“The memorial should enhance the park but not overshadow it,” said Tom Molner of the preservation group Protect the Village Historic District as he commented at the first of three public sessions sponsored by Community Board No. 2’s parks committee. The sessions are set up to gather input on the proposed triangle park and AIDS memorial across from the former St. Vincent’s Hospital site, the future site of a Rudin condo and medical facility development.

The public sessions, which include participation from Rudin Management and the AIDS Memorial Park Coalition, will look at designs for a 16,000-square-foot park, including a 1,600-square-foot memorial to the AIDS epidemic as well as the former hospital that many have described as “ground zero” for HIV patients.

Molner also pointed to Abingdon Square and Strawberry Fields as memorials that are well integrated into their surrounding areas.

Yet another village resident suggested that the names of those lost to the disease should be incorporated in some way into the memorial. “A memorial means something when you see the name of a person you lost,” the resident said.

One resident made the point that many people died from the disease alone or in secret. “It may be difficult to put the names of people on the memorial because many victims were unknown, largely due to the stigma of the disease,” he said.

Other residents agreed saying that there should be a “balance” between personal impact and the disease in general.

According to CB 2, Brooklyn-based design firm Studio a+I, the firm that submitted the winning concept in the AIDS Memorial Park Coalition design contest that was ultimately rejected by Rudin Management, will now design the AIDS Memorial and work with Rudin’s landscape architect Rick Parisi of MPFP to integrate the memorial into the park.

The construction of the triangle park, bordered by Greenwich Avenue, Seventh Avenue and West 12th Street, will be paid for by Rudin as part of the St. Vincent’s Redevelopment Project.

Kate Turley, principal of the City and Country School on 12th Street, pushed for an educational component for children as part of the memorial. “There should be a part of the memorial where kids can go and learn all about the epidemic and those who passed away,” she said.

A handout from CB 2 suggested that the memorial’s commemorative priorities should celebrate the community’s heroic response to the crisis; honor the thousands who died by celebrating life; recognize the ongoing nature of the epidemic and inspire additional learning about the crisis.

Meanwhile, community design priorities for the memorial should invite reflection with comfortable seating and a water feature; maximize landscaping; incorporate contemporary aesthetics respectful of the historic district and be physically integrated into the park.

Upcoming design meetings on the Triangle Park and AIDS Memorial will take place on May 30 and another on June 27.

CB 2’s Landmarks and Parks committees will examine designs from the three public sessions on July 9 and make a recommendation to the full board, which will vote on a final design on July 19.