Memorial Helps Community to Heal

By Christopher Ferrero, RLA, AICP, CNU, Vice President of Fuss & O’Neill, Inc.

An etched black granite tablet with a poem written by an HDI employee flanks the garden entrance. Polished finish provides reflections and movement of the surrounding environment.
Photos courtesy of Fuss & O’Neill, Inc.

No one was prepared for it, and no one will forget it. On August 3, 2010, as business hummed along at Manchester, Conn.-based Hartford Distributors, Inc, an employee accused of stealing beer from the company opened fire in the office. The workday quickly took a turn for the worst as the gunman killed eight fellow workers and then himself, in what amounted to Connecticut’s most horrific workplace shooting.

As the one year anniversary of this tragic event approached, the Rotary Club of the Town of Manchester floated the idea of developing a space memorializing this event and the eight fallen HDI employees. With five months until the one year anniversary date, Fuss & O’Neill was contacted to assist with the development of a vision, production of technical documentation and to help manage the yet to be determined volunteer construction crews and material donors.

The design team quickly embarked on the question of how to memorialize such a terrible event in a way that embraces life lived versus life lost.

Stainless Steel Monoliths are juxtaposed against the tranquil wooded setting. The continuous steel ribbon on top of the monoliths represents the unity and friendship among the eight men.

The HDI site is primarily cleared and consists of open lawn, distribution facilities and parking. The four primary site selection criteria included tranquility, human comfort, view of the building where the event occurred and a site which would exhibit visual seasonal change. A small stand of woods near the site’s property line was selected. During the dedication ceremony, Manchester’s mayor commented during his presentation that it was this wooded area which he found himself gazing into so as to rest his anguished mind on that fateful day.

With the site selected, the design team focused on a concept that revolved around the relationship between individuality and commonality. Each individual whose life was taken that day was first and foremost an individual, very different from any other, family, religions, hobbies, philosophies, etc. yet they shared the commonality of work, friendship and of course the coincidence of that horrible event.

A tranquil shade garden setting with stone dust paths, native shrubs, perennials and benches made from left over granite curbing provide the setting for eight stainless steel monoliths. The arrangement of these structures focuses on their perception as a single element from afar yet the closer the viewer gets the more “individual” they become.

Upon arrival, individuality is accentuated by personal inscribed quotes from family members, the HDI facility looming in the background, and each of the structures contains a sealed time capsule filled with personal mementos. Each panel of the stainless steel cubes which comprise each structure is finished with different textures, some brushed, some etched some smooth, and the “boxes” appear to float upon one another. No one structure is identical to the other and the material is a strong juxtaposition to it’s natural setting, illustrating the change of seasons in the reflections of dappled sunlight and changing colors.

Fuss & O’Neill helped coordinate the all volunteer 2 week construction process. With the contractors putting on the finishing touches the night before, on the bright, sun-speckled morning of August 3, 2011, families, friends, and emergency responders gathered in the serene woods to read the quotes and to honor the victims, while co-workers, Connecticut Governor Dannell Malloy, and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, among others, provided emotional testimonials to the tragic event that had occurred one year ago to the hour. Silence befell a crowd of over 400 people as eight white doves were released to close the ceremony.