Updated at 1:45 p.m. ET
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian has announced the winning concept for the National Native American Veterans Memorial: Multimedia artist Harvey Pratt’s Warriors’ Circle of Honor will incorporate a large, upright stainless steel circle set above a stone drum in the center of a circular walkway with intricate carvings of the five military seals.

The memorial will sit on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and Pratt envisions that from there will be a clear view of the U.S. Capitol’s dome. As Smithsonian.com has reported, Pratt’s use of circles suggest “the cycle of life and death, and the continuity of all things.” The stone drum, it adds, symbolizes an invitation for people to “harmonize their experiences” with one another to the “silent rhythms” of the drumbeat.
Pratt was born in Guthrie, Okla., and is a citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho nations. He’s a veteran of the Marine Corps and served in Vietnam from 1962 to 1965. He also worked as a forensic artist for years, creating witness description drawings for law enforcement.
Pratt tells NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly that he hopes his design will function as an architectural piece rather than just a work of sculpture — something that people can become a part of.