This project was designed to honor the 20 children and six educators who were slain on Dec 14, 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Designers Dan Affleck and Ben Waldo created a competition-winning design for a memorial space which is both open-ended and unifying in how it is experienced, honoring the full spectrum of emotions this tragedy evokes. They wanted to create a space in which visitors could participate, and which would grow with them over time. Three primary elements the circle, the path, and the tree are the hallmarks of a design that achieves these goals. A circling network of paths takes the visitor through a woodland, across ponds and meadows. The paths connect to one another, and allow the walker to experience the space in their own way and at their own pace before arriving at the center. This honors the process of grieving and remembrance. The Memorial Clearing is framed by two low stone walls with wood tops and two low stone seatwalls. In the center, a water feature sits in a granite basin. The edge of the feature is engraved with the names of the victims. Water flows spiral inwards towards a planter at the center, where a young sycamore is planted to symbolize the young age of the victims. The motion of the water embraces the tree and captures the energy, form, and cycle of the landscape around it. Visitors are encouraged to give a candle or a flower to the water, which will carry the offering across the space in an act of bridging the deceased and the living. After a five-year process of site selection and development of memorial criteria, the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial Commission selected this design out of 189 submissions with overwhelming support from the families of the victims. Dan Affleck and Ben Waldo submitted the design independently as a passion project, and brought the project to SWA after being chosen as finalists.
Tuscany Meadows Park
This neighborhood park renovation was a collaborative effort with the city and neighborhood to create a welcoming space. The new vision sought to make the site more universally accessible and attractive for multi-generational community members. Four new “play rooms” include an outdoor fitness facility, sensory play zones, a n...
Perk Park
Originally completed in 1972, this vestige of IM Pei’s urban renewal plan was built when the street was seen as a menace and parks turned inward. Rolling berms surrounded the edges and the sunken middle areas were filled with concrete retaining walls. After years of decline, Thomas Balsley Associates’ designed a plan to reunite the community with its park. The...
SIPG Harbor City Parks
This new riverfront development is located on the Yangtze River in the Baoshan District of Shanghai. This area boasts some of the highest shipping activity in the world. However, in recent years this single-function industrial zone has given way, allowing for waterfront parks to develop. Within this historically layered water front the Baoshan Park and Open Sp...
Wuhan Huafa Capital Park
Wuhan Huafa Capital Development is located in the city’s urban core, amidst the hustle and bustle of busy streets and neighborhoods. The nearly 57,000-square-foot green space, adjacent to the Wuhan Capital Residential Development Sales Center, is envisioned to provide an immersive landscape experience for the sales center’s model housing area during the advert...