“The Clearing “是为了纪念2012年12月14日在桑迪胡克小学被杀害的20名儿童和6名教育工作者而设计。景观设计师丹-阿弗莱克和本-瓦尔多为一个纪念空间创造了一个竞赛获奖的设计，这个空间既是开放式的，又是统一的体验，以尊重这场悲剧所唤起的全部情感。
“The Clearing” was designed to honor the 20 children and six educators who were slain on Dec 14, 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Landscape architects Dan Affleck and Ben Waldo created a competition‐winning design for a memorial space that is both open‐ended and unifying in how it is experienced, honoring the full spectrum of emotions this tragedy evokes.
他们希望创造一个游客可以参与的空间，并随着时间的推移与他们一起成长。三个主要元素–圆形、路径和树–是实现这些目标的设计的标志。一个环形的路径网络将游客带入被康涅狄格州林地包围的草地。这些道路相互连接，让步行者以自己的方式和速度体验这个空间，然后到达一个集体中心，尊重个人和社区在悲伤和纪念过程中的作用。
They wanted to create a space in which visitors could participate, and which would grow with them over time. Three primary elements ‐ the circle, the path, and the tree ‐ are the hallmarks of a design that achieves these goals. A circling network of paths takes the visitor through meadows surrounded by Connecticut woodlands. The paths connect to one another, and allow the walker to experience the space in their own way and at their own pace before arriving at a collective center, honoring the roles of individuality and community in the process of grieving and remembrance.
当参观者进入中央纪念空间时，林地动物的歌声和脚下的碎石停止了，因为他们踏入了一个由小溪般的水声渗透的鹅卵石环。在中心，一个由Fluidity设计的水景坐落在一个花岗岩盆地里。水景的边缘刻有受害者的名字。石头的细节和水向中心的花盆盘旋而去，那里生长着一棵年轻的梧桐树，提供了生命，同时象征着受害者的年轻。水的运动拥抱着这棵树，抓住了它周围景观的形式和周期性能量。参观者被鼓励向水提供蜡烛或鲜花，水将带着祭品在空间中穿梭，成为连接死者和生者的桥梁。
As visitors enter the central memorial space, the songs of woodland fauna and gravel underfoot cease as they step into a cobblestone ring permeated by the creek‐like sound of water. In the center, a water feature engineered by Fluidity sits in a granite basin. The edge of the feature is engraved with the names of the victims. Stone detailing and water spiral inwards towards a planter at the center, where a young sycamore grows, offering life while symbolizing the young age of the victims. The motion of the water embraces the tree and captures the form and cyclical energy of the landscape around it. Visitors are encouraged to give a candle or a flower to the water, which will carry the offering around and across the space in an act of bridging the deceased and the living.
由当地景观设计师塔拉-文森塔（Tara Vincenta）采购的植物和在新英格兰采掘的花岗岩直接借用了周围的乡村景观。本地多年生植物和灌木提供了一种植根于季节性的生态情感动态。在施工过程中在现场发现和挖掘的大大小小的田园石被重新使用，使空间在其背景中扎根。
Planting sourced by local landscape architect Tara Vincenta and granite quarried in New England borrow directly from the surrounding rural landscape. Native perennials and shrubs lend an eco‐emotional dynamic rooted in seasonality. Large and small fieldstones found and excavated on site during construction are reused throughout, grounding the space in its context.
场地距离重建的桑迪胡克小学1/4英里，由桑迪胡克永久纪念委员会选择并捐赠给该镇。场地位于现有地形的低点，被东部硬木林所包围，给人以隐私和冥想的感觉。
The site, ¼ mile away from the rebuilt Sandy Hook Elementary School, was chosen by the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial Commission and donated to the town. Set in a low point of existing topography and surrounded by eastern hardwood forest, the site lends privacy and meditative quality.
在上学的日子里，人们可以从纪念馆听到孩子们在课间玩耍的声音。经过五年的选址和制定纪念馆标准的过程，桑迪胡克永久纪念馆委员会在受害者家属的压倒性支持下，从189份申请中选择了 “The Clearing”。2017年，丹尼尔-阿弗莱克和本-瓦尔多是SWA的同事，他们作为一个激情项目独立提交了设计方案，并在被选为决赛选手后将项目带到他们在旧金山的办公室。该项目于2022年11月开放，在悲剧发生10周年前不久。
On school days, one can hear the sounds of children playing at recess from the Memorial. After a five‐year process of site selection and development of memorial criteria, the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial Commission selected “The Clearing” out of 189 submissions with overwhelming support from the families of the victims. In 2017 Daniel Affleck and Ben Waldo, colleagues at SWA, submitted the design independently as a passion project and brought the project to their office in San Francisco after being chosen as finalists. The project was opened in November 2022, shortly before the 10th anniversary of the tragedy.
Architects: SWA Group
Area : 130680 ft²
Year : 2022
Photographs :Neil Landino, David Lloyd
Manufacturers : Bega, Ernst Seeds, Hardscrabble Farms, Lithonia, Polycor, Q-Tran, Streetlife, Vision 3
Planting Design : Artemis Landscape Architects, Tara Vincenta – Artemis Landscape Architects
Lighting Design : Atelier 10, Chad Groshart – Atelier 10
MEP : Centek, Jonathan Stanford – Centek
Construction Manager : Downes Construction, Jason Smith – Downes Construction Co.
Lead Designer / Project Manager : Ben Waldo, Daniel Affleck
Structural / Geotechnical Engineer : Rich Centola – GNCB
Water Feature Engineering : Jim Garland – Fluidity
Civil Engineer / Survey : Anthony Nester – JMC
Program / Use / Building Function : Memorial to Victims of Sandy Hook School Shooting
City : Newtown
Country : United States