Honoring the lives lost and all those affected by the events that took place at Sandy Hook
Elementary School on December 14, 2012, this memorial draws upon the intrinsic value and potential of its site to create a place of exploration, celebration, reflection and healing.

Building upon an inventory of existing ecological features and improving current conditions by removing the current layer of invasive exotic plants, this approach seeks to incorporate a series of varying but harmonious elements that unify the parcel into a cohesive, unfolding series of diverse landscapes that are inspired by the region’s most compelling ecologies and comprised of a diverse array of regionally occurring and/or appropriate native plant species.

The resulting spaces and the network of meandering paths that connect them seek to serve as a restorative environment that honor the lives lost and engages the surviving communities by revealing nature’s lessons of renewal, succession and persistence while offering the visitor opportunities for reflection, wonder, whimsy, and immersion in the dynamic connections between all living things upon which nature relies.