Stonework Plays Role in Paying Tribute to Aggie Tradition

New Memorial is Reminder of the Tragedy That Took the Lives of 12 Young Men and Women.

By Sean Donahoe

Tragedy struck in College Station and Texas A&M University on Nov. 18, 1999. That's when 11 students and one former student were killed and 27 injured after a 59-ft.-tall bonfire stack of 5,000 logs collapsed.

The bonfire was more than just a stack of wood; it was a symbol of Texas A&M tradition and spirit, where students joined forces in preparing for battle against the school's biggest rival, the University of Texas.

And now, as plans are still in the works for future school-sanctioned bonfires with tighter controls, the university is working on a memorial to remember the fallen.
The $4 million project broke ground in July 2003. Madison Construction Corp. of Bryan was awarded the contract in September of that year and began work in October. Waco-based Brazos Masonry is responsible for the stone work.

Between March 2001 and March 2002, the school held a national design competition for a bonfire memorial. The competition was open to artists, landscape architects, architects, planners, engineers, designers and students and judged by a committee that included injured students and family members of the deceased.

Other objectives included capturing the unique Aggie spirit and teamwork that the bonfire fostered and reflecting on the 90-year history of the bonfire as one of the great traditions of Texas A&M.

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The winning design came from Overland Partners of San Antonio, whose portfolio includes the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin and the Clear Channel Communications Corporate Headquarters in San Antonio. Overland's design team included several Aggies, including project leader Bob Shemwell, class of '82.

"The Bonfire Memorial was a project that transcended school boundaries," Shemwell said. "We had University of Texas graduates involved who were just as interested."
After considering several locations, it was agreed that the memorial would be built on the polo field, the site of the bonfire from 1992-1999.

Overland's design begins with Traditions Plaza, which consists of two vertical planes to separate the commotion of the outside world from the intimate experience of the memorial. The lower wall will allow a view of the memorial ring in the distance. The inside of the higher wall will display lines of "The Last Corps Trip," a poem traditionally recited prior to the lighting of each year's bonfire.

P+3 has been charged with taking $100 million in projects from inception to completion.

At the end of Traditions Plaza, a granite timeline runs along a walkway called History Walk extending due north. It is initially marked with the year 1909, the year the first bonfire was built, and consists of 89 granite stones to represent each year the bonfire has been a part of Texas A&M.

There is a break in the timeline in 1963, the year John F. Kennedy was assassinated and the only year the bonfire did not burn. The walkway connects the plaza to the memorial's Spirit Ring.

Surrounding the site of the 1999 bonfire, Spirit Ring consists of 12 granite portals, each oriented in the direction of the hometowns of the fallen men and women. Twenty-seven granite panels connect these portals to complete the circle. Bronze panels connect the stone forms, representing the injured.

Stepping into one of the portals, visitors symbolically fill the void left by the fallen, embodying the underlying team spirit of Texas A&M.

Bronze sculptured gateways within each portal reflect on the life of each individual represented. Each piece was created with information from the families and interpreted by sculptor Erik Christianson and the Overland Partners team.

The center of the ring is marked by a bronze marker located where the 1999 center pole stood and inscribed with the date and time of the collapse.

The biggest challenge the team faced was locating the granite needed for the walls, walkway and portals. Ultimately, PBI of Houston was able to provide for the extraordinary amount of material.

Special sizes and cuts, coupled with the backlogs facing North American quarries, sent the firm to China to find the granite.

The 12 portals each measured 1 ft. by 6 ft. by 20 ft. and weighed nearly 18 tons. None of the North American quarries could meet the size requirements.

The stones forming the Spirit Ring each needed to be butt-jointed, necessitating convex curves in both directions. Each of the 89 stones forming the History Walk is equipped with a small LCD light fixture buried deep within that will provide subtle lighting at night. The stones required special notch and reveal cuts in order to accommodate the fixtures.

Shemwell praised PBI and the Chinese quarry for their creativity in providing first-rate product at the right price.

"A year from now, we probably would not have been able to do the project," Shemwell added.

The project is scheduled for completion in October and a Nov. 18 dedication will be held on the fifth anniversary of the collapse.

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