The six conceptual plans, competing for the National Pulse Memorial & Museum in Orlando, Florida, have been unveiled by the onePULSE Foundation for public review and feedback. 

The six shortlisted teams include Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Studio Libeskind, MVRDV, heneghan peng architects, MASS Design Group and Coldefy & Associés with RDAI. 

The National Pulse Memorial & Museum International Design Competition was developed and led by Dovetail Design Strategists, the country’s leading independent architect selection firm, launched on March 25, 2019, and was structured in two stages. 

The selected project will honor and preserve the legacy of the 49 killed and all those affected by the June 12, 2016 Pulse nightclub tragedy. The foundation now invites the public to provide feedback on the six concept designs for the National Pulse Memorial & Museum beginning today through October 10.

MVRDV's proposal with McKenzie Architects, Grant Associates, GSM Project and Studio Drift. Image courtesy of the artists.

People can view and comment on the concepts at the Orange County Regional History Center or via the accompanying digital exhibition on the onePULSE Foundation's website.

Following the public viewing and comment period, a blue-ribbon Jury comprised of onePULSE community members, civic decision-makers, global thought leaders and world-renowned architects will select the winning design team. 

Public comments will be shared with the Jury to help inform their selection. The concept from the winning team, which will be announced on October 30, will serve as a starting point for discussion and a basis for design but is not the final, finished memorial and museum.

"Community involvement and engagement is at the core of everything we do. We invite the public to view the concept designs and share their feedback because their voice is essential in helping select the winning team," said onePULSE Foundation CEO Barbara Poma. 

"The concept design viewing marks the next major milestone in the creation of the National Pulse Memorial & Museum, which will honor the 49 lives taken and pay tribute to all those impacted by the tragedy while ensuring that future generations never forget."

The teams created a number of visuals for the exhibition to illustrate their ideas including a large-scale 3D model of their concept, graphic renderings and an immersive video to bring their ideas to life.

Scroll down to see the six shortlisted teams with their short info below:

Image courtesy of the artists

Coldefy & Associés with RDAI, HHCP Architects, Xavier Veilhan, dUCKS scéno, Agence TER, Prof. Laila Farah

"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. 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."

"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."

Image courtesy of the artists

Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Rene Gonzalez Architects with Raymond Jungles, Teresita Fernández, and Oliver Beer

"As LGBTQ+ and LatinX family, June 12, 2016 forever changed our lives. On that celebratory night, the likes of which we have participated in countless times, all went black. We feel a deep connection to those taken and impacted, so for them we must never forget that Pulse nightclub was and should always remain brilliant, glittery, and gay."

"We propose a memorial with a garden and sanctuary that is both solemn and celebratory. The sanctuary sits within a contemplative sound garden of cypress trees, natural ponds and 268 reflective columns, each of which honors the life of someone who was affected but survived the shooting. A sound installation integrated into the columns will create a symphony of music when visitors approach them. A delicately draped, beaded shroud protects the walls of the original club. Ascending above the original structure, one enters the sanctuary, which is suspended on 49 rainbow-colored ceramic tile columns commemorating the 49 lives taken."

Image courtesy of the artists

heneghan peng architects, Wannemacher Jensen Architects, Gustafson Porter + Bowman, Sven Anderson, Pentagram, and Bartenbach LichtLabor 

"The nightclub remains. Inside is silence. Together, we engage with this silence to realize our strength. It is through collectively facing this silence that the energy of PULSE emerges."

"The memorial is cast around the perimeter of this silence, delicately poised on the threshold that links what is outside to what happened within. The memorial’s form shelters visitors in an intimate embrace, revealing only a single wall of the nightclub."

"Each face of the memorial is divided into seven sections, the number of colors in a rainbow. These 7 x 7 intersections intertwine as a shared space, honoring and protecting the 49 angels. On the west, the angels’ names are inscribed in colorful vertical bands, looking towards a tranquil garden. Facing east, the date of the shooting declares: We will never forget. The north and south recall a space of community and celebration."

Image courtesy of the artists

MASS Design Group, Little Diversified Architectural Consulting, Ralph Applebaum Associates, Sasaki, Sanford Biggers, Richard Blanco, Porsha Olayiwola

"No thing, no tribute, no space will replace these lives, their loss, their loves, their selves. And yet, like a chrysalis, we transform and become something else through tragedy. The Pulse community teaches the public what it is to Become. To become is not simply to transform from one to another, but to hold a state of multiple identities together in tension."

"Our museum proposal is positioned to put the Pulse massacre in a global context of the fight for equality, and we are proposing naming the Museum, the Museum for Equality. Our Museum proposal would begin broadly, including the history of oppression and the fight for equality embedded in Central Florida. We bring together the global response and acts of solidarity in the wake of the tragedy, which can serve as a talisman of possibility, and the activism that can be inspired and nurtured here in the pursuit of equality."

Image courtesy of the artists

MVRDV, McKenzie Architects, Grant Associates, GSM Project and Studio Drift

"How we memorialize the Pulse Nightclub shooting influences the nature of the community’s physical and spiritual renewal. We implement a holistic approach that addresses physical (ecological), psychological (emotional), and actualization (social) needs. Cohesion in the Pulse District’s public realm, from the museum, along the West Kaley Street walk, to the National Pulse Memorial monument, through to the city center, and along the Orlando Health Survivors Walk, draws these distinct programs, and SoDo/Parramore communities, into connection."

"Renewal begins in the public realm. A comprehensive urban “seeding” strategy connects all key sites and includes visually vibrant planting, lighting, parasol shading with bench seating, in addition to integrated smart and sustainable water and energy systems. With this urban strategy, we re-graft this desolate corridor onto the fabric of the greater city."

Image courtesy of the artists

Studio Libeskind with Baker Barrios Architects, Claude Cormier + Associés, Thinc, and Jenny Holzer

"We don’t let hate win by shedding - Perpetual Light into the darkness."

"The title Perpetual Light is a response to the onePULSE mission.  The Perpetual Light never extinguishes—it is the light of the 49 Angels, the survivors, first responders, and community. We created three integrated, yet individually distinctive elements within the Greater Pulse District.  We imbued each site with meaning and symbolism that radiates from onePULSE."

"The Memorial is a place that first and foremost celebrates the lives of those who were taken, and communicates the values of Pulse—diversity, unity and acceptance. The heart-shaped design is contoured by 366 rainbow gates, each for a day of the 2016 calendar year. The Memorial is an active and deeply intimate experience for families, survivors and first-responders.  We preserve the existing nightclub site as the Broken Heart and it is the sacred space of the project—where we illuminate the words of love and loss. The Memorial spills out and connects to the Survivors Walk following the same path of the heroic acts of that night."

Top image: Studio Libeskind with Baker Barrios Architects, Claude Cormier + Associés, Thinc, and Jenny Holzer, courtesy of the artists.

> via onePULSE Foundation