Pentagon Memorial design competition, site selection announced

Plans for an open competition to select a design for an outdoor memorial on the grounds of the Pentagon were announced today by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The memorial will honor the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack at that building. Details are available at http://memorialcompetition.pentagon.mil/.

This announcement followed the selection of a location for the memorial near the point of impact. Washington Headquarters Services Director David O. Cooke made the selection after review of the Corps’ “Site Selection Report.” Washington Headquarters Services is the agency that manages the Pentagon.

We will hold a wide open and fair competition for a concept design as part of our commitment to the victims, their families and the American people,” said Col. Charles J. Fiala Jr., the Corps of Engineers’ Baltimore District engineer. The Corps’ Baltimore District is managing the Pentagon Memorial project.

The Pentagon Memorial Design Competition will take place in two stages. In the initial stage, all entries will be judged, and several semi-finalists will be chosen. The semi-finalists will then have an opportunity to further develop their concepts prior to a final design selection. A jury of professionals, with input from the victims’ families and others and with Pentagon review, will select the design concept that will be ultimately constructed. Any individual or team may enter the competition.

A number of family members involved in the memorial planning process identified qualities the memorial should evoke. They used these words: peaceful, serene, poignant, not ostentatious, strength, life, eternity, honor, class, sadness, tragic senselessness, renewed hope, inspire, embracing, enduring, courage, calm. They used these phrases: understand the enormity of the attack, death is equal, shouldn’t tell you what to think, brought the country together, effect should be positive, strength and endurance of the memorial should complement the strength of the Pentagon.

Congress authorized the Secretary of Defense to establish a memorial at the Pentagon Reservation dedicated to the victims of the terrorist attack on the Pentagon in the Fiscal Year 2002 Defense Authorization Act. In October, the Department of Defense asked the Army, through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to provide technical services to establish the memorial. The Corps has constructed and renovated many of the nation’s memorials.

Family members of the victims, a Family Steering Committee, were involved in an evaluation of 10 potential sites conducted by the Corps. In the words of one family member of the committee, “The site was selected on September 11.” Strong family support for this site weighed heavily with Pentagon officials involved in the site selection. The chosen site is being used as a staging area for the Phoenix Project, the reconstruction of the Pentagon. Some construction support activities will be moved to accommodate development of the memorial site.

Further information on the design competition will be available in June. General information about the Pentagon Memorial project can be found at http://pentagonmemorial.nab.usace.army.mil.