The National Capital Planning Commission will consider design alternatives for the Frank Gehry-designed Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial this week, which is planned to be installed between 4th and 6th Streets SW south of Independence Avenue, and could see final plenary review later in 2011. But based on reaction to the latest stage of designs, it might not be smooth sailing.

If you’ll recall, Gehry originally unveiled designs for the Memorial, the seventh such to honor an American president, last March. The plans then called for several 80-foot-tall columns and large stainless steel tapestries that depict images and themes of Eisenhower’s life, enveloping a grove of oak trees. When he unveiled the plans, Gehry said he wanted to convey Eisenhower’s legacy as “a masterful but modest leader,” while providing “a quiet and contemplative space for learning about the vast accomplishments” of his life.

The design of the Memorial, estimated to cost $90-120 million, has gone under several revisions since, as local development blog DCmud notes, including:

one that creates a circular pattern of smooth, non-supporting and seemingly unfinished columns surrounding the park and tribute, a second that follows the colonnade and deference to L’Enfant but allows Maryland Avenue vehicular traffic to continue through the site, and a third that leaves the original concept of a road closure and block-filling park intact, along with the original concept of a screen – “tapestries of woven stainless steel mesh supported on the colonnade of limestone”.