First public images released for planned Fallen Journalists Memorial on the National Mall

The first public images of the planned design for the Fallen Journalists Memorial on D.C.’s National Mall were released Tuesday.

The privately funded memorial, which has been authorized by Congress, was designed by the Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation and the Chicago-based firm John Ronan Architects. The open-ended, triangular space will be the first D.C. memorial to be made almost exclusively from glass, the foundation said in a release Tuesday.

The use and spacing of the glass are meant to highlight themes of transparency.

Head architect John Ronan’s “use of transparent materials to convey themes of clarity and light reinforces the important role that journalists, photojournalists, and media workers play in bringing information to light – often in very difficult circumstances,” Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation Chairman David Dreier said.

Mr. Ronan told Washingtonian that his firm “started out with looking at ice cubes” in designing the memorial, and that it will be both a “place of celebration of the First Amendment” and a place of “reflection to think about those who sacrificed their lives in the pursuit of truth.”

The different sections of glass form a cylindrical shape at the center, representing facts forming a full-fledged story; the memorial has no official entrance or exit, allowing it to be viewed from multiple angles, as a journalist would look at various sides of a story. 

At the center of the central “hall” space, a glass lens inscribed with the text of the First Amendment will be featured, and the installation will also light up at night to signify “the watchdog role that journalists play in a democracy,” the foundation and John Ronan Architects said in the release.

The site of the memorial sits at the intersection of Independence Avenue, Maryland Avenue, and 3rd Street SW, near the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, according to Washingtonian.

The images released show an aerial view of the memorial surrounded by those D.C. streets, a man sitting on a bench-like glass structure while a cameraman films a journalist, the lens and a view of what the memorial could look like at night.

The design will be reviewed by the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts on Thursday and by the National Capital Planning Commission on Oct. 3. Construction is planned to start in 2026 and the memorial’s dedication is expected sometime in 2028, FJMF told Washingtonian.

FJMF was founded in 2019, a year after multiple journalists were killed during a shooting at the Capital Gazette office near Annapolis on June 28, 2018.

Mr. Dreier, a former House lawmaker and California Republican, was a member of the board of Tribune Publishing, which owns the Capital Gazette, at the time of the shooting.