The Baltic Way was a non-violent protest against the Soviet occupation of the Baltic States (Estonia, Lithuania, & Latvia). The protest manifested as two million people joining hands forming a 600 km human chain; this action is associated with the beginning of the fall of the Soviet Union. The competition challenge was to imagine a memorial building in Riga, Latvia that embodied non-violent protest and independence. 
Our proposal was as a series of concentric perforated metal fins that appeared to be growing from the building site. Lighting was used to both illuminate the structure as a beacon, but it also continued beyond the site as a series of grade lights to represent the growth of the non-violent action into the object of independence.