Architecture

There's standing room only for the official dedication of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial in Washington, DC. The ceremony was originally planned for August 28, 2011 to coincide with the anniversary of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech, but the dedication was pushed to October 16 when Hurricane Irene moved through the capital.

Since the postponement, we've heard criticism of the inscriptions engraved on one side of the enormous memorial statue. The controversy got us thinking about the ways architects incorporate typography into their designs. If architecture is a visual art, do words matter?

^{Above: Detail of the Martin Luther King sculpture at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington DC. Photo � Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images}