GreatGlazing: Lynn University Remembrance Plaza

Photos by Custom Components. As a contribution to the Remembrance Plaza, Custom Components supplied its engineering and design services at no cost.

The basics: The Lynn University Remembrance Plaza in Boca Raton, Fla., features a structure of six glass prisms built to memorialize four university students and two professors who lost their lives on Jan. 12, 2010, when a 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti. The students and faculty were part of a group that went to Haiti in as part of the Journey of Hope, one endeavor in the university's tradition of service. Remembrance Plaza was designed to be a place of remembrance, reflection and inspiration, according to a Custom Components release. Using elements of light, water, and trees, the memorial plaza features six triangles/prisms of light, representing each of the lost individuals, a waterfall cascading from the roof of the memorial flowing onto six steps and into the lake, a bas relief map of Haiti including the story of the Journey of Hope, a royal palm (the national tree of Haiti), and benches.

The players: Architect, Sousa Architecture; general contractor, Gerrits Construction Inc.; prism structure consultant and complete engineered product provider, Custom Components Co., Engineered Services; dichroic glass supplier, Schott North America; glass fabricator, TriView Glass Industries LLC; glazing contractor, Faour Glass.

The glass and systems: The glass prisms are made from nearly $250,000 of Narima dichroic color effect glass. The 48-inch by 96-inch glass prisms consist of two layers of glass sandwiched around the Narima inner layer with a matching top. Each prism contains a printed memorial statement about each of the students and professors. The six prisms have accent lights and sit on a concrete base that appears to float in the middle of a reflective pool. Each glass panel in the prisms is retained by custom stainless steel point mount connectors. The glass was laminated and tempered by TriView, which also completed the lettering on the glass.