Updated February, 13 2025 at 2:29 p.m.
Michigan State University is asking community members to weigh in on three proposals selected as finalists for a permanent memorial commemorating the Feb. 13, 2023 campus shooting.
One proposal came from international design firm HWKN and is titled “Circles of Reflection.”
Its plan would create a new path through the Sleepy Hollow section of the W.J. Beal Botanical Garden with three circular gathering spaces branching off from the sidewalk.
Each circle would serve a unique purpose: Gathering Circle would be an amphitheater where performances or other activities could be held; Social Circle would be aimed at fostering connection, inviting visitors to engage with one another; and Meditative Circle would offer a space for quiet reflection.
Matthias Hollwich, the firm’s founder, said in a pitch to the university the goal was to create a space “that maybe gives a little bit of access to other people to share the feeling, to share the memory, but also meet other people around it, to create new connections, to create a little bit of hope.”
At the center of each circle would be a tree to honor the three students killed in the shooting. The students’ families would be invited to help select which type of trees to plant and to be part of the planting ceremony.
Hollwich said that Circles of Reflection would be an “experiential memorial,” incorporating static elements but especially focusing on interactive features.
“That was our motivation. To go away from this idea of a classic monument, and to put something that is about engagement and about a memory that is created,” Hollwich said.
The spaces would be likely to both catch the attention of people walking by and be a destination for others to intentionally seek out, Hollwich said.
Another proposal for Sleepy Hollow would create a single circular area with three stone walls in the center.
Each of the stone walls would feature a “memory window” dedicated to one of the students who lost their lives in the shooting. The memory windows would be circular panes of glass in each victim’s favorite color.
James Dinh, who led the proposal for Studiofolia, said that the memory windows would “serve as a threshold between the living and the spirit.”
He explained the memory windows would be made using fused glass that would match the hardness of the stone while still creating a contrast between the smoothness of the glass and the roughness of the stone.
“The design works on both the physical, tactile level, as well as an emotional and more metaphorical one,” Dinh said in his pitch to MSU.
The final proposal, from Carlos Portillo and Jessica Guinto, would repurpose an existing water feature in the Old Horticultural Garden to create a black granite pond surrounded by white marble.
Three polished pediment stones placed around the pond would offer a space for visitors to place flowers and other mementos to honor the three students who died.
Patches of flowers would be available throughout the spring and summer for visitors to pluck and place on the memorial.
The pond would be heated to slightly above freezing temperatures meaning it could remain operational year-round.
But flecks of sparkling materials embedded in the black granite stone would shimmer in the light even if there was no water in it.
Portillo said that water “was a very important element” in designing the proposed memorial, citing its reflective quality and sound.
The team said they chose the Old Horticultural Garden, located near the Student Services Building and adjacent to the Natural Sciences Building, rather than Sleepy Hollow because it is already easily accessible.
While each proposal is unique, Judith Stoddart, who leads the committee tasked with memorial planning, noted they also share similarities, including the fact that all three proposals incorporate circles in their designs.
"It will really depend on how people are responding to the way that they thought through, particularly, the interaction and the movement through the space, what that will feel like as you're visiting the memorial," Stoddart said.
Community members can view the proposals and submit feedback through an online survey by March 31.
The proposed designs will be on display in the MSU Library in March, Stoddart said. The displays will also direct people to the online survey.
After the public comment period closes, the committee will recommend a final design with construction work planned to begin by the summer.
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.