Poll: Which WWI Memorial Design Is Your Favorite?

Out of 350 entries, the World War I Centennial Commission has narrowed it down to five finalist designs for the National World War I Memorial. The designs range from 1,166 illuminated bronze markers to a pedestrian path through a garden with framed photographs sunken into the ground to a wall with soldiers carved in bas-relief.

With the goal to raise $15 million for the new memorial, the project is expected to deliver by 2018, which is the centennial of WWI, as reported by Washington Business Journal. The memorial will be located in a redesigned Pershing Park, located near the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue NW. Pershing Park is named after U.S. Army General John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing, who led American forces during WWI, according to CityLab.

The commission doesn't plan on selecting a winning design until January 2016, but you can still see what you should expect when one of these designs is chosen.

↑ Plaza to the Forgotten War
Designers: Brian Johnsen, AIA; Sebastian Schmaling, AIA, LEEP AP; and Andrew Cesarz at Schmaling Architects Milwaukee, WI
The Skinny: 1,166 illuminated bronze markers, one for every hundred U.S. deaths in World War I.

↑ World War One Memorial Concept
Designers: Devin Kimmel, Principal at Kimmel Studio, llc in Annapolis, MD
The Skinny: In the center, the "main sacred space" or "Victory Tower" on a centralized, raised bluff. To the east, the relocated Pershing Memorial. To the west, a new monument to the Calvary Horse. To the north, a picnic and family area.

↑ The Weight of Sacrifice
Designer: Joseph Weishaar of Chicago, IL
The Skinny: A wall with soldiers carved in bas-relief.

↑ An American Family Portrait
Designers: Marta Bueno, Luis Collado, Ignacio Espigares, Jose Luis de la Fuente, Shoko Nakamura, and Jose Luis Perez-Griffo, all of STL Architects in Chicago, IL
The Skinny: A pedestrian path through a garden with large format photographs in framed cases sunken into the ground.

↑ Heroes' Green
Designer: Maria Counts of Counts Studio in Brooklyn, NY
The Skinny: Five 30- to 40-foot wide arcing pre-agged copper walls with historic imagery in "Doughboy Plaza." Also, a "Memorial Tree Garden" with 116 Ginkgo trees and "earthworks," a 15-foot-high elevated hillside named "Washington Monument Prospect," and lastly "Soldier's Glen" with 16 Tulip Poplar canopy trees.

· 5 Finalist Designs for the National World War I Memorial [CityLab]
· Take a look at the design submissions for a new World War I memorial [Washington Business Journal]
· Stage II Finalists [World War I Centennial Commission]