A pensive, quiet crowd of more than 300 took in four presentations of preliminary designs for a permanent Jan. 8 memorial Thursday night at an Arizona Historical Society auditorium.
The presentations were of potential memorials to commemorate the Jan. 8, 2011, mass shooting that killed six and wounded 13 at a northwest-side shopping center where then-U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was meeting with constituents.
A decision on which design will be built at downtown’s El Presidio Park is expected to be made in June. The project is estimated to cost $4 million, being raised by the January 8th Memorial Foundation.
Four finalist teams gave their preliminary visions for the memorial and master plan for the park:
- CSAO, or Chee Salette Architecture Office, offered a presentation titled “The Embrace” — an interactive copper sculpture with water flowing behind it, through it and over it. The piece expresses a rift, but also bridges the community that experienced “the incomprehensible violence of Jan. 8.”
- HOK’s presentation was a sculpture with cast bronze pillars personalized with inscriptions and objects for the six people who died that day. “It is their memory that supports the canopy honoring those injured and providing a reflection .... through the words of support and remembrance left at the memorial sites in the days and weeks following that morning.”
- Ibarra Rosano Design Architects’ presentation was of 19 beacons that stand within a circle of sky and Earth. Thirteen of the beacons would be made of cast metal, glass and light. In a center circle are beacons of only glass and light that represent those who died.
- Logan Simpson Design’s presentation was a dynamic and flowing canopy structure made of metal mesh that people can sit under in shade, or in portions where the sun shines through.
Chris Smith, 34, a student of religious studies at a church in Tumacacori, said his favorite piece was Ibarra Rosano Design Architects’. He said the beacons in the sculpture were “the heart of the presentation. The light embodied the hope for the future. It brings the community to the center of this memorial, and gives hope for the future,” he said.
Jan. 8 shooting survivor Jim Tucker said he preferred the design of CSAO’s copper sculpture that integrated petroglyphs in circular symbols. “It draws from the past and shows (history’s) relevance in the present,” he said.
Tucker said he is “more interested in preserving the facts of that day in a history museum,” which will be on the first floor of the old Pima County Courthouse.
The public can review the proposals beginning Monday at www.tucsonsmemorial.org. There, the public also can view and submit comments on a five-minute video from each team about its design.
The proposals also will be displayed starting Monday at the University of Arizona Downtown College of Agriculture, Planning and Landscape Architecture at 44 N. Stone Ave.
