Five finalists chosen for design of Worcester firefighters memorial

July 12, 2004
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Link McKie
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WORCESTER, Mass. -- The Worcester Fire Fighters Memorial Committee announced Monday, July 12, the five finalists for design of the memorial to the six Worcester firefighters who died trying to save others in a 1999 warehouse fire.

The finalists are:

Stephen Stimson Associates of Falmouth. Stimson, founded in 1992, has worked on national projects, including master plans; university campuses; corporate headquarters; parks; private gardens. It has won numerous awards, including a merit award for design from the American Society of Landscape Architects in 1999 for the Thomas Prince School; and merit awards from the Boston Society of Landscape Architects for Menomonee Park in 2002 and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Stimson is doing work there, as well as at Harvard Biological Research and Harvard Science Center, and work on a national memorial. Stimson's past work includes a number of colleges and universities, including Trinity, Kenyon, Wesleyan, and Brandeis. Team members are Carolyn Burke, Soren deNiord, Masha Hranjec, Chai Pattamasattayassonthi, Tom Lee, Stephen Stimson, Eddie Marshal, Angela Tanner.
Ben Smoot of Brookline. Smoot, a Massachusetts native, attended the University of Virginia and graduated in 2003 with a degree in design. He spent a summer term studying architecture in Vicenza, Italy. He works for William Rawn Associates, architects in Boston, and is involved in the design of the new federal courthouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Benjamin Kou of Cambridge. Kou, born in England and raised in Hong Kong, received a bachelor of arts in art history from Clark University in Worcester in 1993. He moved to Boston to pursue architecture, and worked at Cambridge Seven Associates. In 1999, Kou received a master of architecture degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He won the Francis Ward Chandler Prize, awarded to the outstanding master of architecture student for achievement in architectural design. After graduating from MIT, Kou worked with Atelier Jullian and Pendleton of Boston before joining a New York City-based animation and visualization company, Iomedia. He managed a Boston branch and became director of marketing. In 2001, Kou returned to architecture and joined Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann Associates in Boston as a senior designer. Benjamin has worked on biotechnology buildings, high-end residential projects, and is designing a marine institute for a higher education client in Rhode Island.
Chuni Wang of Waltham. Wang, a registered architect, was born in Taipei, Taiwan, and lived for many years in South and Central America. She moved to the United States to pursue a bachelor's degree and later a master's degree in architecture at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, where her final thesis project won the prestigious SGF Prize Award. She has become a U.S. citizen, and, after graduating from Georgia Institute's master's program, she moved to Massachusetts because of its rich history and culture.
Gala Simon Associates Inc. of Watertown. During the past 10 years, GEO Consulting Engineers Inc., now Gala Simon Associates, has provided professional engineering and design services throughout Massachusetts. Project work has included site analysis, zoning, permitting, working drawings and construction administration. This year GEO was renamed Gala Simon Associates because the company expanded to provide both civil engineering and in-house landscape architectural services. Gala Simon offers a broad range of construction design skills, including site surveys, site layout, planting design, pool design, fountains, seating and retaining wall design, sculptures, memorials, site furnishings, lighting design, and subdivisions plans. Gala Simon also provides consultation services for feasibility studies, land-use planning, development planning, permitting and construction administration.

The five finalists were chosen by a blue-ribbon, 11-member jury Friday, after two days of reviewing 158 designs submitted in the first stage of the two-stage national competition for the memorial and the memorial park surrounding it. The site of the memorial park is near Worcester Fire Department headquarters off Grove Street, on scenic Salisbury Pond across from Institute Park.

After a review to determine that all five finalists comply with conditions for the second stage of the competition, each finalist will be given a fee of $7,500 to prepare the more comprehensive designs for the second stage of the competition.

The finalists will visit the site of the memorial park Tuesday, July 27. Their final drawings are due Sept. 15. The jury will review the final drawings Sept. 23 and 24. The winner of the design competition will be announced Sept. 27.

The winner will receive a first prize of $30,000 and will be the only designer who can continue with development of the memorial and memorial park. The second-place design in the second stage of the competition will receive a prize of $8,000; third place, $5,000; and fourth and fifth place, $1,000 each plus commendations for design excellence.

The winning design will form the basis of the memorial to the fallen firefighters that will be the centerpiece of Worcester Fire Fighters Memorial Park 5-1438, December 3, 1999. The numbers in the name of the memorial park represent the fire's five alarms and the Worcester Fire Department code for the location of the fire in the abandoned Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. building. The six firefighters died trying to save the lives of others in the abandoned building, located off Route 290 near downtown Worcester.

The Worcester Fire Fighters Memorial Committee began working in late 2001 to establish a memorial to honor Firefighters Paul A. Brotherton, Timothy P. Jackson, Jeremiah M. Lucey, James F. "Jay" Lyons III, Joseph T. McGuirk and Lt. Thomas E. Spencer. The nation joined in mourning their deaths.

The memorial park is estimated to cost $3 million to $5 million. Fund-raising efforts, which are expected to be announced formally later this year, will include raising money to construct the memorial park and to endow its future maintenance costs.

The public had an opportunity to review the 158 first-stage designs Thursday, July 8. Hundreds of people attended. The designs of the five finalists will be on view for the public to see for at least two weeks, beginning Wednesday, July 14, outside the City Council chamber at Worcester City Hall on Main Street. The designs will be on display after that at the Worcester Public Library in Salem Square.

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