Memorial and Park Design
Gala Simon Design Selected for Worcester Fire Fighters Memorial
Concept
The purpose of the design is to memorialize the six fallen heroes, and to provide a place for family members and friends to reflect on the loss of their loved ones. The memorial will also serve as a prominent feature in the area. Its elevation and location will allow visibility from many locations around the park. The memorial will provide a lasting impression to all visitors, and will reinforce the strong sense of community and pride embodied by the people of Worcester.
The memorial itself is defined by six vertical columns, each honoring one of the six Worcester fire fighters who sacrificed their lives in a heroic rescue effort during the warehouse fire in December 1999. The structural form – the six columns in a circle, with the tops of the columns leaning toward each other -- symbolizes the strength and unity among these six men and all fire fighters. The elements symbolize the honor, courage and strength reflecting their heroism and sacrifice to come together the night of the rescue effort. The fire fighters’ intentions were to find each other; similarly, the structures lean inward to accomplish that purpose symbolically. To reinforce that, in the evening focused light will project from the top of each of the six monuments to an intersecting point, a symbol of the fire fighters’ unity and goal to find each other during the tragic fire that cost their lives.
The sides of each of the six monuments will have the name of one of the six fire fighters, and the inside of each column will have an engraved name of one of the six fire fighters and a written personal memoir developed by family and friends.
A timeline chronicling events from the time the fire was first reported at 6:13 p.m. Dec. 3, 1999, through the last of the six memorial services two weeks later will connect visitors along a path from the designated parking spaces and dropoff area to the memorial.
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The Memorial Park
The roadway and pedestrian path to the memorial serve to enhance the relationship between the memorial itself and the memorial park as a whole. The path creates a perimeter along the western edge of the park site, which encompasses the refurbished existing athletic field, the memorials to fallen Worcester fire fighters before and after Dec. 3, 1999, the memorial itself, and the timeline.
A pedestrian bridge at the Salisbury Pond end of the pedestrian path will arch across the narrowest point of the pond, linking the memorial park with Institute Park.
There will be a dead-ended vehicular access road from Grove Street to the memorial’s parking area. Grading for the site, a retaining wall and free-standing walls will serve to screen vehicular traffic at the site.
The memorial itself will be on an elevated grade in a central portion of the memorial park, where the best views and vistas can be achieved from Grove Street and surrounding areas. The elevated grade for the memorial is supported by a retaining wall that, in turn, provides an overlook to Salisbury Pond.
Most of the memorial itself and other features of the memorial park will be built of warm-colored limestone. The limestone will have a honed finish at the memorial itself. Other structures will use a more textural split-face limestone veneer paired with small quantities of honed limestone. Exposed aggregate/textured concrete is used along the pedestrian paths and timeline to add to the warm color palate. Bronze plaques will be used as the timeline markers.
The pedestrian bridge will have steel trusses painted a deep bronze. The bridge decking will be a naturally hard and durable wood.
The Designer
Gala Simon Associates Inc. of Watertown.
From Left to Right: Alberto Gala, Civil Engineer; Cristobal Arria, Architect; Colleen Simon, Interior Designer; Paul Simon, Landscape Architect – Project Manager
During the past 10 years, GEO Consulting Engineers Inc., now Gala Simon Associates, has provided professional engineering and design services throughout Massachusetts. Project work has included site analysis, zoning, permitting, working drawings and construction administration. This year GEO was renamed Gala Simon Associates because the company expanded to provide both civil engineering and in-house landscape architectural services. Gala Simon offers a broad range of construction design skills, including site surveys, site layout, planting design, pool design, fountains, seating and retaining wall design, sculptures, memorials, site furnishings, lighting design, and subdivisions plans. Gala Simon also provides consultation services for feasibility studies, land-use planning, development planning, permitting and construction administration.
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Last modified: Apr 15, 2005, 11:28 EDT