The onePULSE Foundation announced the winning design team for the Pulse Memorial & Museum in Orlando today.
The winning team is led by French firm Coldefy & Associés and includes Orlando-based HHCP Architects, among others.
The design includes a memorial with a reflective pool and garden with 49 trees, along with an open-air educational center with a public plaza.
onePULSE Foundation Director Barbara Poma says right now the memorial would bisect the Pulse nightclub, which means visitors might be able to walk through it. But that could change.
“And everyone will have their input about how to treat that space still. So it’s still not yet determined. And I think that’s what everybody needs to understand that it’s really part of this process going forward.”
The design also includes an Orlando Health Survivors Walk- a guided walk with interactive sculptures to Orlando Regional Medical Center.
A local group called Community Coalition Against a Pulse Museum opposes the project. Members say the site should be free and open to the public.
We're thrilled to announce that @Coldefy_CAAU with RDAI | HHCP has been selected to design the National Pulse Memorial & Museum. Over the next year, they'll work together to refine the designs to best reflect community feedback. #WeWillNotLetHateWin https://t.co/Na3TzBv0HG
— onePULSE Foundation (@onePULSEorg) October 30, 2019
Zach Blair is with the group. He says he would prefer a free memorial and victims center.
“A mass shooting survivor support center that could help not only Pulse survivors but mass shooting survivors from around the country would be more appropriate than a museum when gun violence is an ongoing thing in American society.”
The Foundation plans to charge admission for the educational center and museum – the memorial will be free.
The project is scheduled to open in 2022.