Maya Lin Archives - Ghosts of DC

Maya Lin’s Winning Design Concept for the Vietnam Memorial

January 10, 2020September 18, 2013 by ghostsofdc

Paul Stevenson Oles sketch of 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.

Controversy and Design: The Ghosts of DC Memorials

November 1, 2023July 13, 2012 by ghostsofdc

Maya Ying Lin, the Yale architecture student who submitted the winning design for the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial, holds a scale model of her design on May 6, 1981. © Bettmann/CORBIS (mentalfloss.com

Controversy and design have a long history when it comes to the memorials in Washington, DC. From the Washington Monument to the Vietnam War Memorial, this guest post explores the history of the Ghosts of DC Memorials.