Cancer Survivors Park

New Orleans, Louisiana

The Block parks are the only public projects in the US to attempt to help people with cancer through transformation of consciousness. The basic idea behind the design of the parks is the creation of powerful and memorable environments in the variety of settings that will encourage people to believe that they indeed can do something about their own condition. These parks attempt to make visible the process of transformation that Richard Block (the "R" from H&R Block) himself has gone through. In that sense, they are both a tribute to a particular man and his personal victory, and on a more universal level they promote and celebrate a special state of consciousness in us, which when wakened allows us to heal ourselves.

The New Orleans park is located in the median of a major avenue in the downtown area and consists of the following components: 1) Fourteen columns (from different places and different times in history) symbolizing the importance of transformation and the birth of the new from the old, as well as the assertion of the individual; 2) Four sided arch with lacey metal grill and a mosaic freeze at the top developed by a local artist from the sketches made by children from the oncology ward of a local hospital; 3) The Earth fountain; 4) Sculpture "There is Hope"; and 5) The computer with the names of cancer survivors from Louisiana.