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Maya Lin’s Winning Design Concept for the Vietnam Memorial

In 1981, Maya Lin won the contest to design the Vietnam Memorial at the age of just 21. Learn how her abstract design concept was sketched by Paul Stevenson Oles and became a powerful memorial in Washington, DC.
A 1901 design for the memorial bridge by Edward P. Casey and William H. Burr, accepted by the Secretary of War but never constructed.
https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/view.htm?id=0A872177-1DD8-B71C-07B983197ECB7653
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Maya Lin was just 21 years old in 1981 when she won the contest to design the Vietnam Memorial. She was still an undergraduate student at Yale, beating out 1,441 other entries.

Her design concept was so abstract, that the contest officials asked Paul Stevenson Oles to sketch the memorial. Below are those sketches.

Paul Stevenson Oles sketch of the Vietnam Memorial
Paul Stevenson Oles sketch of the Vietnam Memorial
Paul Stevenson Oles sketch of the Vietnam Memorial in the winter
Paul Stevenson Oles sketch of the Vietnam Memorial in the winter
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