Design concepts unveiled for Pulse memorial, museum

ORLANDO, Fla. – A memorial for Florida’s Pulse nightclub massacre will have a reflecting pool with rainbow-colored lines radiating from it, and a nearby museum will resemble a three-dimensional spirograph, according to design concepts announced Wednesday.

Forty-nine people were killed and dozens more were injured when a gunman opened fire at the gay nightclub in June 2016. It was the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history until a gunman opened fire on Las Vegas concertgoers in 2017.

The design concepts are only a starting point for discussions on the Pulse memorial and museum and are open to revisions, according to organizers.

The designs were produced by several French architects and artists who worked with an Orlando architectural firm and a DePaul University professor.

Plans call for the memorial to feature a garden with 49 trees in honour of the victims who were killed. The museum will have open-air areas, a vertical garden, public plazas and a rooftop promenade, according to the design concepts.

A committee of Pulse survivors, architects and central Florida leaders picked the concepts following a public viewing of six finalists’ proposals. Members of the public left 2,300 comments about the six finalists, which had been whittled down from 68 submissions.

The memorial will be at the site of the former nightclub and the museum will be a third of a mile away. Both are slated to open in 2022.