On June 12, 2016, a gunman shot and killed 49 people and injured 58 others who were enjoying a night out dancing on Latin Night at Pulse Nightclub. Pulse was a cherished LGBTQIA+ nightclub which was safe and inclusive. It symbolized the power of community and of a chosen family. At the time the shooting was the largest mass murder in America. Americans have a love affair with guns and mass murdering one another.
The onePulse Foundation put out a call for architect firms to create a memorial at the site. There were 68 international submissions. The Orange County History Center showed models of the submissions and a winner was picked. The winning submission was beautiful. Unfortunately, the onePulse Foundation did not have the funds needed to create the memorial and a planned museum. The foundation folded and the City of Orlando stepped in, purchased the property and spearheaded a new plan for the memorial.
All the early plans for memorials had preserved the Pulse building and incorporated it into the memorial plans. The City of Orlando decided instead to tear down the building. The budget for the planned Pulse memorial is 12.6 million dollars. The Orlando City Council is scheduled to vote on October 12, 2026 to approve construction with Gomez Construction Company.
The plans approved by the One Pulse Foundation were abandoned. The new plans were designed by Borrelli and Parteners and Gomez Construction. The design milestones were set with an advisory committee and community feedback. The new memorial seems to mimic many aspects of the features of the winning design. The memorial is slated to open in the second half of 2027.
The memorial will feature a water wall featuring the names of the 49 victims. There will be a reflections pool positioned over a portion of the original nightclub dance floor. There will be an Obelisk using a salvaged breach wall of the club and recycled concrete from the original building. There will be a walkway with canopy columns honoring each of the 49 victims.
I sketched at Pulse shortly after it was torn down. The cranes were still working moving the rubble. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis insisted that the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) had to paint over a rainbow crosswalk that was established at the nightclub site. When that happened Orlando citizens decided to chalk the rainbow back in place. It is not illegal to place chalk on pavement since it is not permanent. Each time the crosswalk was chalked, FDOT would wash or paint away the chalk. On the day I sketched it was day 223 of the battle to keep the rainbow on the crosswalk. Since the Nightclub was being demolished and the memorial has yet to be built, this is the only memorial that remains for the 49 lives lost. Petty politics continued to railroad the Orlando communities grief.