A restaurant overlooking the pond Constitution Gardens? Terraced landscaping on the grounds of the Washington Monument that face a newly renovated Sylvan Theatre? Both are part of winning design proposals in a competition to redesign three iconic sites on the National Mall.

The Post reports that the Trust for the National Mall is announcing two winners today in the competition to redesign Constitution Gardens, the Sylvan Theatre and Union Square. The winners were chosen by eight judges from a pool of four applicants for each site; the competition is a joint endeavor between the trust and the National Park Service to reinvigorate a National Mall that has been called a “failed public space.”

Rogers Marvel Architects and Peter Walker and Partners’ submission for a new pond that can double as an ice-skating rink and a new restaurant won over judges for Constitution Gardens. As for the Sylvan Theatre, judges chose OLIN & Weiss/Manfredi’s design incorporating a new amphitheater and terraced landscaping on the grounds of the Washington Monument.

Gustafson Guthrie Nichol & Davis Brody Bond’s design for Union Square would remove the Capitol Reflecting Pool and replace it with a smaller pond further west along the site; because of a recent change in control over the sites their proposal will be sent to the Architect of the Capitol for consideration.

The winners will be formally announced at a lunchtime benefit with former First Lady Laura Bush. The cost of constructing the Constitution Gardens and Sylvan Theatre sites is expected to hit $700 million, of which half is expected to come from private donations. The first groundbreaking is expected in 2014, with the ribbon-cuttings slated for 2016.