The final forum for public input about the January 8th Memorial and the design concept for the downtown El Presidio Park is Saturday, Nov. 7. The memorial will find its home at the downtown park.
The event is from 10 a.m. to noon at the Tucson Fire Department headquarters, 300 S. Fire Central Place. The station is off West Cushing Street and west of South Main Avenue.
Los Angeles-based CSAO, or Chee Salette Architecture Office, was chosen to design a master plan for the park and memorial.
In May, the firm 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,” according to presenters.
The design team is developing and refining its original concepts, organizers said. The changes are based on input received from participants at two previous forums and meetings with the survivors, family and friends of those who died in the shooting spree, neighbors of El Presidio Park, historians and longtime Tucsonan.
Planners have also met with University of Arizona historians and archaeologists, National Park Service employees who have expertise in memorial designs, and city and county personnel who are familiar with the sustainability of parks, said Karen Christensen, president of the Tucson January 8th Memorial Foundation board of directors, in an early interview.
The design team is further exploring:
- Materials for the inner wall of the memorial, and the wall’s symbols.
- Plants and landscaping for the outer memorial wall and the park.
- A new park infrastructure for larger festivals.
The public is also invited to give their input on other design aspects of the park and memorial.
For those who cannot attend the forum, input can be left online at www.tucsonsmemorial.org/what-do-you-think/
