Coldefy with RDAI, together with Orlando-based HHCP Architects, Xavier Veilhan, dUCKS scéno, Agence TER, Prof. Laila Farah, has won the international competition for the National Pulse Memorial & Museum in Orlando, Florida.

The team was selected from among 5 other shortlisted teams led by strong international firms, including Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Studio Libeskind, MVRDV, heneghan peng architects, MASS Design Group, which was announced earlier this month.

The winning project will honor and preserve the legacy of the 49 killed and all those affected by the June 12, 2016 Pulse nightclub tragedy. 

The winning team’s concept design serves as a starting point for discussion and a basis for the design but is not the final, finished memorial and museum. Over the next year, Coldefy with RDAI | HHCP will work to further refine the designs so they can best reflect community feedback.

The design concept from Coldefy with RDAI | HHCP features a reflecting pool encircling the Pulse building, which will be integrated into the memorial design. 

In memory of the 49 victims, a palette of 49 colors lines the basin and radiates towards a peaceful garden planted with 49 trees. The design also envisions a spiraling, open-air museum and educational center with vertical gardens, public plazas, and a rooftop promenade.

"The Pulse is the source, the place of events which echoed throughout the world, the point of departure of a project transforming hearts, minds and inspiring the Orlando SoDo district development. Pulse becomes the center of gravity; it radiates and transmits," said the architects in their project description.

"Water is the connecting element, from the existing fountain, it becomes a shallow reflecting pool encircling the club. In memory of the Angels, a palette of 49 colors lines the basin and radiates towards the public spaces."

The team's scheme features an opulent garden planted with 49 trees, the memorial site provides a protective and colorful canopy. At the center of the garden, the nightclub is preserved; a generous adjacent space is dedicated to gathering and celebration. In this haven of peace and tranquility, we discover the transformed nightclub, opening to the light and air, inviting us to traverse an intimate path; opening our consciousness.

The renewed West Kaley street provides a shaded connection to the Museum, which rises like a budding flower, reaching towards the sky and signaling the entrance to the Pulse district. Vertical gardens and public plazas create new community places, and a rooftop promenade offers views to the Memorial and over the entire district.

"The National Pulse Memorial & Museum will honor the 49 lives taken and all those affected while also educating visitors and future generations on the profound impact the tragedy had on Orlando, the U.S. and the world," said Barbara Poma, onePULSE Foundation CEO. 

"We are excited to work with Coldefy with RDAI | HHCP and the full team, whose next step is to embark on a master plan for the project, which will include robust community engagement," added Poma.

"We are very honored that our team has been selected by the onePULSE Foundation to continue this journey together. This is a deeply meaningful project that reminds us how much architecture and landscape can influence our behavior and have an impact on our community; it’s a project that already transcends our entire team in a beautiful, collective adventure," said Thomas Coldefy, principal of Coldefy.

"Together, we have an opportunity to reclaim a place from terror and darkness and create a new reality, one that brings people together in celebration of joy and love."

Interactive sculptures commemorating all those affected by the tragedy punctuate the shaded esplanade of the Survivors Walk on Orange Avenue, from the memorial towards downtown.

Future promenades, bike paths, and a Pulse shuttle connect to the train station and create walkable loops that serve as a framework for the healthy future growth of the neighborhood.

A blue-ribbon Jury comprised of onePULSE community members, civic decision-makers, global thought leaders and world-renowned architects selected Coldefy with RDAI | HHCP following a public viewing and comment period in early October. 

Informed by over 2,300 comments from victim’s families, survivors, first responders and the public, the Jury felt their design best reflected the interests expressed by the community, demonstrated design excellence, inventiveness, creativity and alignment with onePULSE’s core values.

Additionally, the Orlando Health Survivors Walk will trace the three-block journey many victims and first responders took the night of the tragedy to get to Orlando Regional Medical Center and extend north to the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.

onePULSE Foundation plans to build the National Pulse Memorial on the site of the Pulse nightclub with the museum and education center located at 438 West Kaley Street – approximately one-third of a mile from Pulse. The memorial and museum are projected to open in 2022. The memorial will be free and open to the public year-round.

The comment summary report is available to the public on the onePULSE Foundation website.

All images courtesy of Coldefy with RDAI, HHCP Architects, Xavier Veilhan, dUCKS scéno, Agence TER, and Prof. Laila Farah.

> via onePULSE Foundation