The Minnesota Fallen Firefighters Memorial honors the sacrifice of those killed in the line of duty. The impetus for the project was to relocate an existing statue to the capitol grounds in Saint Paul.The vision was to evoke references to the sacrifice and service of firefighters through the experience of the memorial’s form, rich materiality and transmission of historic information to visitors.The ground rises, presenting visitors with a cast stone wall inscribed with the names of 791 Minnesota fire departments, in alpha-jumbled sequence. The wall subdivides the site, tracing geometries from the historic plan of the capitol mall to establish a location for the statue. A large steel monolith hovers above the statue, forming a pavilion to mediate between the monumental scale of the capitol grounds and the life-scale of the statue. A mirrored cylindrical void in the monolith above bathes the statue with light.The weathering steel pavilion will rust over time forming a protective coating and staining the ground – a process analogous to the oxidation of fire. A field of slender columns bears the weight of the monolith; names of the fallen are inscribed on sleeves affixed to the columns. The warped array of columns embodies a repeating century of years. Currently 86 columns record the years in which Minnesota firefighters have died in the line of duty. Additional columns can be added onto the grid in the future, making it a living monument rather than a snapshot in time. The inscriptions, oriented in the direction of the department where the firefighter served, are arrayed vertically in a chronological sequence. Outside the pavilion a cedar bench provides a comfortable place for reflection; it is burned and oiled to protect its surface.The memorial was designed pro bono by Leo A Daly Minneapolis.
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