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Chicago architect John Ronan was chosen to design Washington, D.C.’s first national monument dedicated to press freedom and fallen journalists.
Ronan’s firm, John Ronan Architects, was selected from more than 50 design teams that submitted proposals for the memorial, according to a news release from the Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation.
Ronan and his team will work with the foundation in the coming months to develop the final design for the monument, which will be located on the National Mall and has received federal approval.
The 10-month selection process was led by Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic Paul Goldberger and a 10-member design selection committee.
Ronan said the memorial will have themes of transparency and light, emphasizing the importance of these factors in the work of journalists.
The design concept features layered transparent elements that look different on all three sides of the triangular site, suggesting multiple sides to the story. It will encourage visitors to investigate each space through their own journey.
“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 a statement. “I look forward to working with the foundation. Collaborate 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.”
David Dreier, president of the Memorial Foundation, said Ronan’s “unique and compelling design philosophy” as well as his creativity and attention to detail inspired leadership.
“Just as journalists serve as watchdogs in our democracy, the design will highlight the Memorial’s diligent surveillance of the Capitol dome, visible above the Memorial’s eastern edge,” the foundation said.
Ronan’s firm has won multiple awards from the American Institute of Architects for its buildings in Chicago, including the Poetry Foundation in North River and the Gary Comer Youth Center in Grand Crossing. The company was a finalist in the competition for the Obama Presidential Center.
Ronan is also a professor in the School of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He also received the American Academy of Arts and Letters Architecture Prize.
“The ideas their team came up with crystallize the vision we have always wanted for this memorial: to be a place of reflection and appreciation, a place to learn about press freedom, and most importantly, to honor the journalists who gave their lives fighting for freedom.” Memorial Foundation President Barbara Cochran said in a statement about the company.
The foundation is led by former U.S. Rep. David Dreier, the former chairman of Tribune Publishing, and Barbara Cochran, a former news executive and journalism professor.
It launched on June 28, 2019, according to its website. It was the one-year anniversary of the Capital Gazette mass shooting in Annapolis, Maryland. Five staff members of the newspaper were killed in the attack.
Congress authorized the foundation to build the monument in December 2020.
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