In June, the San Francisco Arts Commission selected three design proposals as finalists for a San Francisco Veterans Memorial, to be located across the street from City Hall. Last week, the War Memorial Board of Trustees picked a winner.
Here's the description from the "Passage of Remembrance" design proposal:
You enter the memorial on a suspended woven metal path that wraps the octagon. At the first of two pools that circumscribe the octagon, the path begins its gentle slope downward into the earth, a departure from the workaday bustle of the Civic Center. This is a place for silence.
The slope establishes the form of the memorial, sheltered from the surrounding urban activities but open, fully visible from the pedestrian concourse. Soon, a passage cut through the octagon is revealed, a departure from the civilian world. Here the consecrated earth is held.
Photo: SF Veterans Memorial
I have to admit, I'm a titch disappointed that the proposal called "Wreath of Remembrance" didn't come out on top, as I felt it was vaguely suggestive of Star Fleet Academy. Which, as everyone knows, will be located in San Francisco come the 24th century.
