BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — It's been more than a year of planning and sifting through designs, but now the 5/14 Memorial Commission is down to three.
"The day I got the email that I was a finalist, I was just humbled and truly grateful," said Kristen Locke, a finalist.
In a private presentation at Rich Products, each group showed their design to the commission and family members of victims of the mass shooting at Tops.
"We want to be protective and private for the families because we've been dealing with several emotions going through this process and sometimes it was painstaking," said Rev. Mark Blue, Chair of the Commission.
Who are the finalists?
Watts Architects and Engineers is a local group hoping to bring a memorial. They're pairing up with groups like Baskervilland say it's been heart-wrenching to put together.
"Having been affected by the tragedy that happened being a local resident here, it's an opportunity to lend our voice to help memorialize lives that were lost," said Ed Watts, President of Watts Architects and Engineers.
Kristen Locke is a partner and Architect at BeeHyyve in North Carolina and tapped Rachel Cotter to help with her design. Locke has roots in Buffalo.
"It would mean the world to me, my great-uncle came here in 1946, for me it would be an honor to represent my family...building something here," said Locke.
Jin Young Song is an Associate Professor of Architecture at the University at Buffalo, working with Douglass Alligood. The pair wants to make an impact on several levels.
"A sense of restoring that feeling of safety, that comfort in your backyard, we're hoping it can help restore that," said Alligood.
What would designs look like?
These will be more than monuments, more like places to come and reflect on the lives lost. Here's how each finalist described it.
Finalist 1:
"Conversations revolved around community having time and space and opportunity to heal, having a journey together that will take them to whatever that space is they need to be," said Burt Pinnock, Principal at Baskervill.
Finalist 2:
"This is a memorial but it's also a place where we can come together, dissolve barriers, move on, build a better future, learn and play," said Cotter.
"Proving that the individuals that lost their lives that day, their lives mattered," said Locke.
Finalist 3:
"A park-like setting, so everyone can come and enjoy and also some place to educate," said Jin Young Song.
What's next?
The commission will come together and vote for and they will make an announcement in a few weeks, around the two-year mark of 5/14.
