After reviewing submissions from the city's leading design firms, the Design Subcommittee selected Casendino & Company, in association with Cecil/Rizvi, to design the Famine Memorial park. The winning design calls for a "room within a room" setting in which pedestrians can move through the park while others can stop and reflect on the "moment in time" that the memorial will capture. The landscape design team includes Tony Casendino, landscape architect and principal of Casendino & Company; Steve Cecil, urban designer and principal at Cecil & Rizvi, and David O'Connor, senior landscape architect at Cecil & Rizvi.

A Fulbright Fellow at the University of Rome and a graduate of Cornell University, Casendino has over 25 years of professional experience. He has worked on the following projects: Shipyard Park in Charlestown Navy Yard, Cardinal Cushing Park, Copley Square, Winthrop Square, Davis Square, the MBTA Washington Street Station, and City Square Park in Charlestown.