Superior, CO
Marshall Fire Remembrance
Turning Destruction into Renewal
status
Ongoing
client
Town of Superior
expertise
Public Realm + Open Space
services
Landscape Architecture
A Lasting Tribute to Resilience
Honoring a community forever changed by the Marshall Fire.
The Marshall Fire Remembrance is envisioned as a place of reflection, healing, and resilience for a community forever changed by Colorado’s most destructive wildfire. Located within the grasslands of Superior, the memorial honors the lives, homes, businesses, and landscapes affected by the Marshall Fire while creating a lasting place for remembrance and community connection. Situated along an existing trail network with expansive views of the foothills, the memorial acknowledges both the scale of the disaster and the resilience that emerged in its aftermath.
Working closely with the Town of Superior and Davis Partnership Architects, LandDesign developed a conceptual design that translates the community’s experiences into a sequence of physical spaces. Four concentric rings represent stages in the physical and emotional arc of the Marshall Fire, guiding visitors through a symbolic journey of destruction, displacement, reflection, and renewal. Designed as an accessible experience for visitors of all abilities, the memorial allows everyone to share the same journey through the landscape, regardless of how they move throughout the site.
The project is currently in the first phase of a multi-phase design process. In 2026, the Town of Superior committed $25,000 towards funding the project.
Four Rings. One Community Journey.
Material and planting selections reinforce the meaning of each space. At the memorial’s center, charred wood, flagstone, warm-toned materials, and limited red plantings evoke the fire’s destruction. Moving outward, darker paving, weathered steel, and structural plant forms reflect displacement and uncertainty, while white stone, silver-toned plantings, and lighter materials mark the snowfall that helped bring the fire to an end. The outermost ring opens toward the surrounding grasslands, where native and fire-wise plantings emphasize regeneration, resilience, and the community’s ongoing recovery. Together, these spaces create a memorial that honors loss while celebrating resilience and renewal.
