Archinect - News

The Pulse Nightclub site is now officially a National Memorial

2021-06-29T08:00:00-04:00

President Biden formally signed H.R. 49 into law this weekend, officially recognizing the now-vacant site of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting as a national memorial in a historic move that clears the way for a new permanent monument in Orlando.

The bill, named to honor the tragedy’s 49 victims, designates the club’s former space as an official unit under protection of the National Park Service along with 36 other planned and completed national memorials that include the Washington Monument and Pearl Harbor.

“May no other president ever have to sign for a monument like this,” Biden said at the Oval Office ceremony.

Winning design for the proposed memorial campus. Image credit: Coldefy & Associés with RDAI/onePULSE Foundation.

A team of designers including Orland-based HHCP was announced before the pandemic as the winners of a two-pronged memorial design competition hosted by the onePULSE Foundation. Their design would feature a spiraling flower-like museum and garden space that is...

New high school incorporates design elements meant to hinder active shooters

2019-08-23T15:30:00-04:00

With school shootings becoming a point of concern for many across the country, K-12 design methodologies are beginning to address the issue as well.

Fruitport High School in Fruitport, Michigan, for example, is undergoing a $48 million renovation project aimed at incorporating some of these design approaches. The new work "will add curved hallways to reduce a gunman’s range, jutting barriers to provide cover and egress, and meticulously spaced classrooms that can lock on demand and hide students in the corner, out of a killer’s sight," reports The Washington Post.

Speaking with The Washington Post, Matt Sagle of TowerPinkster, and an architect on the project, illustrated the project's "shadow zones," designed areas for students to hide in that are obstructed from a shooter's sight lines. TowerPinkster also designs prisons; Regarding the project, The Washington Post writes that Sagle "wanted to strike a balance between security and creating a welcoming presence without the pendulum ...

The New Sandy Hook Elementary really looks like a church

2016-08-02T13:05:00-04:00

there is a moat, of sorts, between the parking lot and the school. It’s planted with indigenous flowers and advertised as a learning opportunity for kids. The whole place has a playful, tree-house aspect, but indications of its impenetrability are everywhere: This sanctuary is a fortress, too.

Lisa Miller attended a recent "media access day" for the new Sandy Hook Elementary School, designed by New Haven architects Svigals + Partners.

Revising the city in the aftermath of violence

2016-07-11T18:39:00-04:00

A mass shooting scenario changes the function of every object in the built environment. [...] The buildings themselves, the fabric of the city, ends up not mattering so much. In fact, sometimes it becomes a kind of enemy. [...] Americans aren’t going to rebuild their cities to accommodate the possibility of violence. The people who protect the people in those cities will just have to learn to see them differently.

Related on Archinect:

The Architecture of Loss: How to Redesign After a School Shooting

2014-11-20T14:22:00-05:00

Good architects strive to balance design and function while listening closely to a client’s emotional needs for the space. Public projects often have the added layers of bureaucratic paperwork, media scrutiny, and community outreach. But rebuilding a school after a shooting presents a unique kaleidoscope of intense feelings. Architects must create an environment that not only promotes learning, but also helps the students—and their towns—heal from tragedy.

Swedish artist Jonas Dahlberg to design July 22 Memorial sites in Norway

2014-03-05T17:35:00-05:00

Upon the recent conclusion of Norway's July 22 memorial site competition, Swedish artist Jonas Dahlberg was unanimously selected by the competition jury to be the designer. Dahlberg's designs will become the two public-art memorials, each commemorating the 77 victims who tragically lost their lives in the Oslo bombing and Utøya massacre on July 22, 2011.

After Newtown, Architects Weigh School Design Changes

2012-12-22T17:46:00-05:00

Mark Simon, a founding partner of Centerbrook Architects and Planners, agrees. “I think [bars and other fortifying techniques] send the wrong message to both kids and teachers,” he says. Based in Centerbrook, Connecticut, Simon has designed 20 school buildings, including five public elementary schools, though none in Newtown. “Buildings tell stories, and when a building is designed that way, it tells you that it doesn’t trust you. And kids intuit that they’re not trusted,” he says.