SYRACUSE, NY — September 10, 2026 — Onondaga Historical Association (OHA) announced the three design team finalists selected to advance in the Full Circle Design Competition, an invitational design competition to create a new heritage and education site in the currently known Heritage Park. The finalists were chosen by an independent Curatorial Committee from a group of 17 local, regional, and North American design teams invited to submit qualifications earlier this year.
The finalists are:
Creative Urban Alchemy (New York, New York)
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer (Quebec, Canada)
TEN x TEN Studio (Minneapolis) with MASARY Studio (Boston)
OHA will host a public presentation by each of the finalists on Tuesday, November 10th at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Downtown Syracuse. The three design proposals will be exhibited November 10th until Tuesday, November 24th at OHA’s comprehensive history museum at 321 Montgomery Street. An opening reception will be held on November 10th at OHA immediately following the design team presentations. Community feedback will be collected during the exhibition and via the competition website. The winning design will be selected by the Curatorial Committee and announced in December 2026.
“We are thrilled to reach this phase of the Full Circle Design Competition. The Curatorial Committee selected three talented and visionary design teams to consider our history and explore the future of this public space. We look forward to November when we get to see their bold ideas to honor the resilience of our community’s many cultures.” said Lisa Romano Moore, Executive Director, Onondaga Historical Association.
About the Competition
The Full Circle Design Competition launched in 2025 as an invitational competition to create a new civic and public art space in downtown Syracuse. The Project Site includes St. Mary’s Circle, the Columbus Monument, and a vacant lot across East Onondaga Street from the Monument, known as the Powelson Site. Details about the project can be found on the competition website – www.fullcircledesigncompetition.org
Onondaga Historical Association hired Forecast Public Art to facilitate a selection process with the Curatorial Committee. Qualified professionals whose past work demonstrated experience with the scale, technical rigor, and public-space sensitivity the project site demands were nominated by local and national nominators. Onondaga Historical Association has maintained a position of neutrality on the disposition of the Columbus Monument, and did not specify if the individual bronze elements should remain in place, be removed, or relocated to another site.
Thirty-eight designers and design teams were nominated by community stakeholders to receive invitations to submit an artist statement that included their design process, how they would incorporate existing and future community input, and examples of previous work. The Curatorial Committee developed a set of selection criteria and chose three with the highest scores. Submissions included local, regional, and other North American designers.
Full Circle Design Competition activities are supported by a grant from the Mellon Foundation.
About the Curatorial Committee
Each submission was reviewed by a Curatorial Committee of nine representatives, seven of
which are local community members and two are members with experience in national public
art leadership and research. Curatorial Committee members have experience in public art, arts administration and education, historic preservation, landscape architecture, and/or urban planning, and represent a variety of cultural communities, ages, genders, and faiths. In order to avoid lobbying or outside pressure on the selection process, the names of the Curatorial
Committee will be disclosed after the competition winner is announced.
Next Steps
Full Circle Design Competition Finalists will spend the next two months preparing their
concepts for a public presentation and exhibition in Syracuse. The public presentation will be held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Downtown Syracuse on Tuesday, November 10th An opening reception for the exhibit will follow at Onondaga Historical Association’s comprehensive history museum on Montgomery Street. The finalists’ designs will be on exhibit until November 24. Public feedback will be collected during the exhibition, and will be shared with the Curatorial Committee in their selection of the winning design. The winner of the Full Circle Design Competition will be announced in December. The winning design team will
receive funding to create a schematic design that the City of Syracuse can use for planning and fundraising purposes.