The design for the national firefighters memorial, to be erected at the LeBreton Flats, was announced Thursday by the National Capital Commission and the Canadian Fallen Firefighters Foundation.
“We Were There,” the winning design created by Vancoucer artist Douglas Coupland and Toronto architect Mary Tremain, consists of a giant fire hall pole that acts as a lightning rod, protecting a tree and monument underneath, with a bronze statue of a firefighter that points at the names on the monument.
“I wanted the monument to convey deep emotion and simple dignity,” Coupland said. “I want people to eat their lunch there, read, play with their kids — and each time they do so, a small part of themselves will reflect on firefighters and what they do every day when they go to work.”
President of the CFFF, Robert Kirkpatrick, said he was pleased that after seven years a design has finally been selected.
The Coupland/Plant Architect Inc. design is quite dramatic and a fitting memorial for the more than 1000 firefighters who died serving their communities in all corners of Canada since the 1840’s,” said Kirkpatrick.
The jury, comprised of public art and architecture professionals and representatives from the CFFF and the NCC, said the strength of the that the winning design is that it will encourage site interactivity and exploration by visitors during all four seasons.
The monument should be unveiled in September 2012.