The important thing to remember, of course, is that any memorial you see here will be about half as bright as its rendered image. This is because designers of things like buildings (and memorials) always picture their creations in perfect light.

My vote is for the "reflecting absence" design, since simpler is almost invariably better.

My vote goes to "garden of light". I do also like "reflecting absence", that would be my second vote. I think you're right about how they will look in real life, but I think the "garden of light" will still look as it does on paper compared to most of the other light based ones.