A new memorial to victims of the Sandy Hook shooting has been approved following a referendum vote in Connecticut that finalized the project after nearly three years of cost-related delays. 

The memorial is adjacent to the new Sandy Hook Elementary campus and will open on the tenth anniversary of the shooting in December of next year.

SWA’s 2018 design for The Clearing will invite visitors into the 5-acre donated space via a network of paths surrounded by meadows and centered by a sycamore tree at the base of a water feature set upon a granite base. The garden plan was approved unanimously by a memorial committee after a competition yielded 189 different entries for what will eventually be dedicated as Connecticut’s second gun-violence related memorial in as many years.

The state legislature also voted this month to approve a bond package that would contribute $2.6 million to the project’s overall costs. 

“We wanted to acknowledge that the healing process does not end, but continues and grows,” co-designer Daniel Affleck, who is also a Connecticut native, said in a statement. “This finds its expression in both the plantings and reflecting pool, which reflect the seasonality of nature and constant change through the movement of water.”

Construction will begin in August on the $3.7 million memorial with an expected opening set for December 14th of 2022. 

“The main focus is to memorialize the victims and the beautiful essence of their individuality instead of the actual event,” the committee guideline states. “It should communicate the limitless possibilities of the children’s imaginations but not be childlike. The memorial should not be physically imposing or ideologically overbearing, but through its simplicity should communicate the great depth of our loss.”