Honoring those who have sacrificed and put their lives on the line is no easy task. Yet, it is a task that needs to be completed from time to time. Minneapolis-based architectural firm LEO A DALY was chosen by the state to design the new Minnesota Fallen Firefighters Memorial to honor the sacrifice of Minnesota firefighters killed in the line of duty. Working on a pro-bono basis with the Minnesota Fire Service Foundation, LEO A DALY provided design, project management and cost estimation services to create the new memorial, while Westwood Professional Services, Eden Prairie, Minn., completed the survey and civic engineering.
“We are proud to collaborate with the Minnesota Fire Service Foundation to design a memorial that pays homage to our firefighters and recognizes their extraordinary sacrifice to our community,” says Ted Redmond, AIA, LEO A DALY Minneapolis managing principal.
Located on the grounds of the Minnesota state capital, the approximately 6,000-square-foot memorial will incorporate several distinctive design features within a landscaped garden and paved assembly area. The memorial’s main focus point is a large monolith supported by a grid of steel columns that houses the Minnesota Fire Service Memorial Statue, a bronze, figurative sculpture of a firefighter rescuing a child. The statue, which, until recently was on display at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport, will be lit by natural light through a circular void in the monolith.
The monolith will be made of weathering steel, which over time will rust to form a protective coating-a process analogous to the oxidation of fire. The organizing grid is made up of 100 potential pavilion columns that embody a repeating century of years-10 decades by 10 years per decade. Currently, an incomplete constellation of 83 columns are mapped on the grid, recording the years in which Minnesota firefighters have died in the line of duty. The names of each of Minnesota’s fallen firefighters are inscribed on the columns, and the design allows for new columns to be added onto the grid for additional inscriptions in the future.
The memorial ground will rise to present approaching visitors with a tribute wall inscribed with the names of the 791 fire departments throughout the state. The site’s landscaped garden and paved area will provide a space for quiet reflection and contemplation, while also serving as the location for an annual memorial ceremony.
“We want to provide a meaningful experience to family, friends and community members who visit to pay their tributes,” says Glenn Waguespack, LEO A DALY’s lead designer on the project. “So the design incorporates evocative symbols of firefighters in every aspect of the memorial.”
Funded by firefighters for firefighters, the Minnesota Fire Service Foundation raised more than $600,000 to build the new memorial. Construction on the project will begin in May, with the dedication ceremony set for Sept. 30, 2012.
Minnesota Fallen Firefighter Memorial, St. Paul, Minn.
Funding and support: Minnesota Fire Service Foundation
Architect: LEO A DALY, Minneapolis
Survey and civil engineer: Westwood Professional Services, Eden Prairie, Minn.
Steel columns: TBD
