Six finalists have been selected in the competition for a memorial to the 184 victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon. The jury sifted through 1,126 entries (and there is not a Maya Lin-Libeskind-Eisenman or large firm alphabet soup anywhere to be seen). The individuals and teams are from Brooklyn and Clifton Park, New York; Toronto; and New Zealand.

 

The finalists are:

Shane Williamson; Toronto, Canada; individual entrant

 

Julie Beckman; New York City; team member: Keith Kaseman

 

Jean Koeppel; Brooklyn, New York; team member: Tom Kowalski

 

Mason Wickham; Brooklyn, New York; team Member: Edwin Zawadzki

 

Jacky Bowring; Canterbury, New Zealand; team members: Peter England, Richard Weller and Vladimir Sitta

 

Michael Meredith; Clifton Park, New York; individual entrant

 

The six finalists will each receive $20,000 to develop their ideas in stage two of the competition, with a deadline in December. The date for the final judging will be scheduled by year-end, with hopes that the memorial can be completed by September 11, 2003.

 

The finalists’ designs, along with a number of other entries, will be on exhibit at the National Building Museum October 30 – November 9.

 

One controversy surrounding the project is that none of the proposals include mention of the victims of the World Trade Center or the fourth hijacked plane that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. According to reports, the relatives of the Pentagon victims do not want the other sites or victims included in the memorial.

 

The project is funded by up to $2 million in federal money as well as private donations. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, is managing the memorial project on behalf of the Department of Defense.

 

Jury members included: Harold Brown, former Secretary of Defense; Wendy Chamberlain, family member; Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, public artist; Walter Hood, landscape architect, University of California at Berkeley; Melvin R. Laird, former Secretary of Defense; Roger Martin, landscape architect, professor emeritus, University of Minnesota; Mary Miss, artist; Gregg Pasquarelli, architect; Terry Riley, chief curator of architecture and design, Museum of Modern Art, New York; Carolyn Shelton, wife of Gen. H. Hugh Shelton, former chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Karen Van Lengen, dean, School of Architecture, University of Virginia. Alternate juror Jim Laychak, a family member, also participated. Professional advisors for the competition are Mark Robbins and Reed Kroloff.