LA COUNTY SHERIFF'S
TRAINING ACADEMY

Location: Los Angeles, CA
Client: LA County Arts Commission

The design proposal for the LA County Sheriff's Training Academy comprises three components: an end-of-watch memorial wall, a history wall, and a processional way. The memorial wall serves as an important backdrop for ceremonies and official functions. An existing concrete wall will be clad with rough and smooth travertine stone. The middle section will be engraved with the names of fallen officers. The ends of the wall contain the “constellation of stars”, which are lasercut steel panels whose tracery is intended to express loss, absence, and sacrifice. An eternal flame completes the memorial.

On the other side of the memorial is the history wall that serves to welcome people arriving to the training complex. The wall tells the history of the Sheriff’s Department through archival photographs printed on porcelain enamel steel panels. The wall's sandblasted patterns are inspired by the Sheriff badge. Leading to the memorial and history wall is the processional way. Six basalt stone columns line the pathway, down which deputies march during ceremonies. The face of each column is polished and engraved with one of the Sheriff Department’s 6 core values. The rough surfaces of the stone represent the new recruits, while the polished surfaces symbolize the values that each graduated deputy swears to uphold.