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A national memorial established to honor fallen journalists following the deadly mass shooting at the Capital Gazette newsroom in Maryland in June 2018 will have strong ties to Chicago.
The Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation announced Wednesday that Chicago-based John Ronan Architects will design the memorial on the National Mall in Washington, the culmination of a nearly year-long selection process.
The design concept was selected from more than 50 proposals, beating four finalists with its vision of transparency and light as core principles of a free press.
“We were inspired by his unique and striking design concept, which called for the use of transparent materials to convey themes of clarity and light to emphasize the importance of the work of journalists, photojournalists and the free press,” said committee chairman David David Dreier said. the Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation said in a news release.
John Ronan’s award-winning works in Chicago include the Modernist Poetry Foundation building in River North, the colorful Gary Comer Youth Building in Grand Crossing Gary Comer Youth Center and the Ed Kaplan Family Institute for Innovation and Tech Entrepreneurship at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where Ronan is a (Professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology). architecture.
The 10-member selection committee, led by architecture critic Paul Goldberger, also includes former Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin.
The memorial will feature multiple layers of transparent elements that are distinct from all three sides of the one-third-acre triangular site that will be within view of the U.S. Capitol. The project, funded entirely by private donations, is expected to cost $50 million, with a target completion date of late 2028.
“This memorial will be a journey of discovery, slowly unfolding space by space, like a story, allowing visitors to take on the role of investigative journalists,” Ronan said in the release. “I look forward to working with the foundation. , to create an inspiring place of remembrance that honors those who sacrificed their lives in the pursuit of truth and celebrates the First Amendment foundation on which democracy is built.”
On June 28, 2018, a lone gunman shot and killed five Capital Gazette employees inside an Annapolis newsroom, in one of the worst attacks on journalists in U.S. history. The shooter, Jarrod W. Ramos, pleaded guilty and was sentenced in 2021 to five consecutive life sentences.
The nonprofit foundation was established on the one-year anniversary of the Dreyer newsroom shooting. Dreyer, a former congressman, was chairman of the Chicago Tribune Publishing Company, which at the time owned the Capital Gazette.
The foundation was authorized by Congress in December 2020 to build a memorial to fallen journalists on federal land in Washington.
Dreher resigned as chairman of Tribune Publishing in February 2020, three months after hedge fund Alden Global Capital became the company’s largest shareholder. Alden acquired the Tribune publishing chain in May 2021 for $633 million.
In January, Alden sold The Baltimore Sun Media Group, which includes its flagship newspaper and the Capital Gazette, to David Smith, executive chairman of Maryland-based Sinclair Broadcast Group, for an undisclosed price .
rchannick@chicagotribune.com
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