LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — An empty, fenced parking lot sits along Las Vegas Blvd. and Reno Ave. It's the site of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
“It’s a sacred space, even though it doesn't look like it today. Hopefully in the future it will become that for everyone else,” said Derek Sola, Design Principal and Architectural Design Lead for JCJ Architecture.
After four years of meetings and input from the public, Clark County's One October Memorial Committee selected JCJ Architecture to create the permanent fixture on the Las Vegas Strip in July.
Sola and his team plan to transform the two acres into a space for healing.
“The design was really born out of our conversations with the community,” Sola said.
The memorial is called Forever One.
From above, the memorial will appear as an infinity symbol, representing eternal love or infinite memory for the 58 angels.
“For those that do venture here, I hope that they can gather a greater connection, an understanding with the victims and who they were in life,” Sola added.
After visiting the site, Sola and his team knew they needed to do something to combat the sounds of a bustling city around them.
"We decided that it would be good to excavate into the earth and really carve into the earth to create more of an insulated condition, to create more of a peaceful environment where we could really respect the victims and those that have fallen,” Sola said.
Rather than removing that soil, it will be re-used in the walls of the memorial.
“It’s a very kind of an emotional approach to repurposing the soil and giving the ability for the guests to go up and touch and feel what to us, is very sacred,” Sola added.
Forever One will feature a 58-foot-tall Tower of Light, representing guidance and connection to the heavens.
At its lowest elevation, guests can enter a circular chamber with 22-thousand points of light- meant to represent the exhilarating feeling of being at a concert with 22,000 attendees.
Each pixel of light can be a photo uploaded by a family member or Route 91 Survivor, according to the JCJ Architecture design site.
Sola says the Remembrance Ring will have 58, 7-foot structures, meant to symbolize candles for the 58 angels.
“During the day, the glass refracts light, so it'll essentially project color onto the paving below, and then at night it glows internally so that it really has 58 glowing candles,” Sola added.
Adjacent to the Remembrance Ring is the Angel Wall with the relational names of the victims to others- grandfather, wife, friend, role model.
Sola says the next step is to re-engage the community, allowing a deeper dive into the details of the memorial.
Coincidentally, he had the opportunity to do that when he met Cheryl Ast, a One October survivor who happened to be visiting the site from Canada.
“We’re here for you. We're going to make this a reality,” Sola told Ast.
The happenstance meeting gave Ast hope for the future of the site.
“That’s what I needed. I needed to be able to say thank you for understanding, hearing our voices and making this happen,” Ast said.
It’s a task Sola doesn’t take lightly.
“Your heart breaks every time you hear some of these stories and see the tears and it happens over and over again,” Sola said. “I have to applaud them for their bravery, and they've been so inspiring. They've inspired our entire firm to really stand up and make a mark for this city.”
