Reflections on Memorial Planning

Yesterday onePULSE Foundation, the nonprofit established to honor the 49 killed and all those affected by the Pulse nightclub shooting on June 12, 2016, announced the selected design for the National Pulse Memorial & Museum, submitted by Coldefy & Associés with RDAI, Orlando-based HHCP Architects, Xavier Veilhan, dUCKS scéno, Agence TER, and Prof. Laila Farah.

The winning design concept features a reflecting pool that will encircle the Pulse building, as well as a spiraling, open-air museum and educational center with vertical gardens, public plazas, and a rooftop promenade. In memory of the 49 victims, a palette of 49 colors lines the basin and radiates toward a peaceful garden planted with 49 trees. The design will evolve over the next year as the designs and the onePULSE Foundation respond to community stakeholder feedback.

Senior Vice President of Government & Community Affairs at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum Anthony Gardner serves as a member of the onePULSE Foundation Chairman’s Ambassadors Council. Gardner wrote a blog post for the onePULSE Foundation to marvel at this exciting milestone, to comment on the challenge of memorialization, and to reflect on his experience participating in the planning process for the eventual 9/11 Memorial.

“The finalist design concepts seem to acknowledge our lessons learned as they echo community input gleaned since the onset of the memorial planning process,” Gardner writes. “As the jury deliberates, I’m sure the engagement and passion of the Orlando community will inform their historic decision, shaping a living institution that like, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, will serve as a beacon of remembrance, hope, love and resilience in a world greatly in need of inspiration and healing.”

Read the full blog post by Gardner and find out more about how the 9/11 Memorial & Museum helps other communities like Orlando mourn and memorialize after incidents of violence or disaster.

By 9/11 Memorial Staff