BAU_Butzer Architects and Urbanism

The National Native American Veterans Memorial honors Native American veterans at the site of the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Selected through an international competition, the memorial design is organized around Oklahoma artist Harvey Pratt’s (Cheyenne-Arapaho) “Warrior’s Circle of Honor,” an elevated stainless-steel circle that symbolizes cycles of life, death, and unity among Native veterans.

The memorial design creates a contemplative gathering space around the elevated circle, which balances above a rippling pool of water flowing over a carved stone drum. The design incorporates four elements for sacred ceremonies, seating for gathering and reflection, and four lances where veterans, family members, tribal leaders, and others may tie cloths for prayers and healing. An important part of the memorial approach, the Path of Life circumnavigates the memorial, and is representative of a Native way of life leading to harmony. Narrow granite pavers of the Path of Life are like footprints representing past, present, and future veterans.

Through an engagement process that consulted museum stakeholders and federal agencies, the memorial was carefully located within the existing NMAI landscape while addressing the design competition principles of creating a contemplative space universally accessible to visitors from the main entry of the museum and the river walk. Set at the boundary between the NMAI Upland Hardwood Forest and Lowland Freshwater Wetland living landscape exhibits, the space is simple and powerful, timeless, and inclusive.

The final competition jury report stated, “This design is culturally resolute and spiritually engaging.”