NORCO, CA, August 2022 - QCP has collaborated with many design firms on a myriad of projects over the years, however the recently completed Curtain of Courage Memorial in San Bernardino, CA , designed by Walter Hood and his team at Hood Design Studio in Oakland, CA stands apart for both the unique design elements and raw emotional power of the installation. The memorial is dedicated to the 14 victims of the terror attack which occurred on Dec. 2, 2015, at a San Bernardino County Environmental Health Services staff meeting. The attack also left 21 wounded. The design consists of 14 alcoves in an undulating layout, each dedicated and personalized to reflect an individual lost in this senseless act of violence.  

When Hood design Group first engaged QCP with the concept for the precast benches for the alcoves we knew that there were key aspects that would require close collaboration with both the design team and the other material fabricators in creation of the solemn but inspiring site. “We didn’t want a place of sorrow, but of light,” said the landscape designer and artist Walter Hood, as quoted in the NY Times, ‘who thought about the solace of cathedral chapels in his first work commemorating individuals lost to gun violence, and the survivors’ . The precast benches are a key part of this installation as each is inscribed with an individualized quote that reflects the spirit of each victim. In addition, each bench contains a hidden keepsake, chosen by family, which is enclosed in an acrylic cube and cast into the precast benches. 

The challenge in the design efforts were multi-faceted, as QCP was coordinating with both Hood Design Studio on the overall bench designs and layouts, as well as assisting in coordinating with the various contractors, and custom fabricators of the metal bench legs and screen, as well as plaques, to create a seamless installation. Through a series of meetings and discourse the design evolved to its final form, with QCP assisting on both determining the feasibility as well as anticipated challenges of the design. Small details, such as jointing and bolt slot sizes became critical as the tolerances for marrying the metal and precast did not allow for any deviation.  

The design made it clear that in order for the design to be successful each precast bench needed to mirror the metal curtains that embraced it, and at that point in the process, as detailed by Hood Design Studio, QCP worked with Cinnabar, the contractor coordinating the installation, to create a foam mockup of a bench section, cut with our multi-axis CNC machine. This allowed for the overall form and scale of the benches to be assessed in the context of the site and overall installation. Once this was approved, a full-scale precast mockup section was created to explore the other fine details before the project went to full fabrication. 

One of the challenges in creating the benches were the individual quotes reflecting the victims, who were inscribed on each bench. QCP’s CAD staff worked together with the project management team at Hood Design Studio to ensure that the quote would fit within the design parameters and layout. Multiple fonts, font sizes, and layouts were explored to arrive at the final selection.  

One unseen details of the memorial benches have the most emotion attached to it; the personal effects, selected by family members, that were encased in acrylic and cast into the precast benches. The namesake objects extensions of loved ones lost, range from family photos to miniature hot wheel hotrods, are each framed in a rebar cage, a suggestion by one of QCP’s staff members, to keep them from displacing while the heavy concrete is cast, effectively entombing them in the mass.  

‘Designing for families stricken by gun violence was “quite a heavy burden,” Hood told the Dec. 2 Memorial Committee, which included survivors, emergency medical workers and public and behavioral health experts. “He gave each victim thought,” said Josie Gonzales, the committee’s chair and a retired county supervisor, as quoted in the NY Times article about the Curtain of Courage.