Chicago architect selected to design memorial for fallen journalists in Washington

Chicago-based architect John Ronan has been selected to design the first national memorial in Washington, D.C., dedicated to press freedom and fallen journalists.

Ronan’s firm, John Ronan Architects, was chosen for the project out of more than 50 design teams that submitted proposals for the memorial, according to a news release from the Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation.

Ronan and his team will work with the foundation over the coming months to establish a final design proposal for the memorial, which will be located at the National Mall and has already received federal approval.

The 10-month selection process was led by Pulitzer-Prize winning architecture critic Paul Goldberger and a 10-member design selection committee.

Ronan said the memorial will engage with themes of transparency and light, reinforcing the importance of those factors to the work of journalists.

Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation

The design concept features layered transparent elements that will appear different from all three sides of the triangular site, alluding to the multiple sides of a story. It will encourage visitors to investigate each space through their own journey.

“The memorial will be a journey of discovery that unfolds slowly, space by space, like a story that casts the visitor in the role of investigative journalist,” Ronan said in a statement. “I look forward to working with the foundation to create an inspiring place of remembrance which honors those who have sacrificed their lives in pursuit of the truth and celebrates the First Amendment foundations upon which democracy is built.”

David Dreier, chairman of the memorial foundation, said leadership was inspired by Ronan’s “unique and compelling design concept” as well as his creativity and attention to detail.

“Just as journalists play a watchdog role in democracy, the design will highlight the memorial’s diligent watch over the Capitol dome, visible above the memorial’s eastern rim,” the foundation said.

Ronan’s firm has won multiple awards from the American Institute of Architects for its buildings in Chicago, including the Poetry Foundation in River North and the Gary Comer Youth Center in Grand Crossing. The firm was a competition finalist for the Obama Presidential Center.

Ronan is also a professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture. He is also a past recipient of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Architecture award.

“Their team delivered ideas that crystallized the vision we have always wanted for this memorial: to be a place of reflection and appreciation, for learning about press freedom, and most importantly, that honors the journalists who lost their lives in service of freedom,” Barbara Cochran, president of the memorial foundation, said of the firm in a statement.

It was launched on June 28, 2019, according to its website. That was the first anniversary of the Capital Gazette mass shooting in Annapolis, Maryland. Five of the newspaper’s staffers were killed in the attack.

Congress authorized the foundation to build the memorial in December 2020.