Sandy Hook mass shooting was to become the watershed moment of America’s tenuous relationship with Gun Culture and expected to recalibrate the political narrative around the Second Amendment. The design explores, ‘Healing-Introspection-Community’ as the architectural intent of the Memorial. The Fragile eco-system- Sustainability- Participative Building Process, were the proposed strategies for implementation. The existing landscape plays a singular role in the over-all design direction of the memorial. Most of the surrounding landscape is kept untouched with minimal interventions. The Chapels, frame arresting vistas and borrow the surrounding landscape along with its internal courts to merge itself with the landscape to create a really understated architecture. The chapels and connecting paths are sunken to ground not only to frame the views, but also to make it merge with the surroundings.

The Memorial is spread in all there sections of the site, proposed to be implemented in 3 phases. The design proposes easily deployable, locally accessible construction technologies to make the project as a participative endeavour to some level. Simple RCC construction is proposed for the enclosed and semi-enclosed structures. The approaching Paths / Decks are in wood with Mild Steel sub-frames and pre-cast RCC pile / struts- A complete reliance to accessible technologies to make the project viable to build and maintain, in the long run.

1.Approach to Memorial Lane 2. Entry Gate 3.Parking 4.Memorial Plaque & Signage 5. Reflecting Pool 6. Entry to Gallery 7.Gents 8.Ladies 9.Foyer/Waiting 10.Office 11.Information/reception 12.Entry to Pathway 13.Sacred Mount 14.Store 15.Mechanical 16.Gallery 17.Sacred Trees 18.Lawn 19.Wodden Pre-Fab Pathway 20.Chapel 21.Internal Court 22.Lawn/Gathering Place 23.Viewing Deck 24.Existing Pond

CHAPELS: 26 Chapels are located in the lower field, which forms the main part and the first phase of the Memorial. Chapel is a dedicated space for each of the 26 victims- a sacred space for the family and friends to reconnect and remember; an intimate space for the visitors to pay homage to. Each Chapel is left for the individual families to complete and decorate with its own memorabilia, as they deemed fit, except for the granite bench the community has gifted. The concrete walls carry some of the curated doodles and anecdotes related to the victims’ pasts, reconnecting them with visitors, as they traverse the path in the memorial