Photo courtesy of Azimuth Land Craft

The National Park Service awarded two Bay Area architects with the top prize in its Memorials for the Future competition, and they’ll appear alongside their work this evening.

Erik Jensen and Rebecca Sunter came up with Climate Chronograph—a plan to fill Hains Point with cherry trees, then let tides encroach on the land and kill the plant life. “The composition becomes a processional tidal gauge. A record,” as the team’s proposal describes.

The concept takes the complex process of climate change and “turns it into a tangible, personal experience,” according to a release from NPS. While memorials typically commemorate a moment from the past, this idea offers people a chance to “interact with the space as it evolves unpredictably over time,” NPS continues.

In April, the Park Service launched the competition in conjunction with the National Capital Planning Commission and the Van Alen Institute. Applicants were tasked with considering “how the next century’s memorials will be woven into the capital’s urban public spaces, largely located off the National Mall.”

The winning exhibit and the top three finalists will be on display beginning today in the Kennedy Center’s Hall of Nations. Each concept allowed the judges “to think outside the often-fixed nature of memorial design, looking beyond solemn marble statues of uniformed men on horseback, and envisioning emotionally resonant memorials open to varied interpretations,” said David van der Leer, executive director at the Van Alen Institute.

Members of the four teams will be at the exhibition tonight from 7 p.m. until 8 p.m., and the free public showcase runs through October 20.