On National Blue and Green Day, Friday, April 21, 2017, (a day set aside to share the excitement and power of organ donation), the new Lifeline of Ohio Donor Memorial, designed by Rogers Krajnak Architects, will be unveiled. The Donor Memorial is part of a project that included renovations to Lifeline of Ohio's 20,000 sq. ft. building, a new conference center addition, new parking, landscaping, and site work. Inspired by the stories of how an organ donor’s “Gift of Life and Healing” has a “ripple effect” as one life saves eight lives, RKA designed the Donor Memorial with a series of ripples.
Two fountains, representing the Donor and the Recipient provide the source of the ripples which become granite paver ripple rings that extend across the plaza through the garden and meet in the Remembrance Room. Designed as an “embrace”, the Remembrance Room is a spiritual place where visitors are invited to pause and remember those that gave the “Gift of Life and Healing”. One of the illuminated blue glass panels at the gateway of the Remembrance Room states “The ripple starts with one generous act that changes countless lives and creates endless possibilities.” This is a place where Donor Families and Recipients can meet.
The eight wall planes in the Remembrance Room represent the eight lives that can be saved by the gifts of one Hero of Donation. And it is on these wall planes that the NAMES of hundreds, and someday, thousands… of Heroes of Donation are prominently and permanently displayed in stainless steel panels.
As visitors approach these stainless-steel Donor Name Panels, they experience the reflection of their presence as they walk up to view the names. As they reach out to touch the names, they realize that the letters are the holes in the stainless-steel panels through which the light passes. The names, made of light, are the brightest elements in the Donor Memorial.
