A Place for Healing and Remembrance

The “Grand Candela” commemorates the victims and survivors of the August 2019 mass shooting tragedy at Walmart’s Cielo Vista store in El Paso, TX. Inspired by the motif of an everlasting candle and set in a plaza within the store’s parking lot, the memorial offers a dedicated place of healing and remembrance. Twenty-two columns of perforated metal, one for each life lost, are joined together in a luminous circle of unity that rises thirty feet– high enough to be seen by the impacted community residing on both sides of the border.

During the day, the metal structure glimmers in the sunlight, the apertures of the individual columns become more discernible upon approach. Programmed lighting at night lends a healing effect, with a votive-inspired glow brightening during the day and dimming to soft vigilance at night. The memorial reads as a luminous beacon, a healing reminder of the community’s oneness.

Being a part of this remarkable memorial is one of the reasons that we are passionate about lighting. Bringing people together.


An Everlasting Light

Targetti’s Keplero Gimbal HP ingrade illuminates a meaningful circle of twenty-two columns of perforated metal that represent each life lost.


A Beacon of Light

The powerful projection of these ingrades and precise aiming creates a luminous circle of unity that rises thirty feet– high enough to be seen by the impacted community residing on both sides of the border.


Lighting Design: HLB Lighting Design

Landscape Architect: SWA

Photography: Jonnu Singleton/SWA