The winning design for a memorial to the victims of communism in downtown Ottawa has been chosen.

Toronto architect and artist Paul Raff created the design with Michael A. Ormston-Holloway, a designer and certified arborist, and landscape architects Brett Hoornaert and Luke Kairys.

It’s a sculptural array of bronze rods configured into a large arc, and in a media release, Canadian Heritage said it’s “intended as a dynamic living calendar that would commemorate moments of suffering and injustice that eventually resolve into reflection and gratitude.”

The announcement was made Wednesday morning by Arif Virani, parliamentary secretary to Canadian Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly, at the Canadian Museum of History.

Memorial scheduled to be finished in 2018

The memorial will be built on the west side of the capital’s Garden of the Provinces and Territories at Bay and Wellington streets, with construction expected to be completed in 2018.

Valued at $3 million, the cost of the monument will be split evenly between the federal government and Tribute to Liberty, the private group spearheading the project.

According to the federal government website, the memorial will recognize Canada’s “role as a place of refuge for people fleeing injustice and persecution, and honour the millions oppressed by communist regimes.”

The memorial was championed by the former Conservative government, which supported plans to have the monument built next to the Supreme Court of Canada building on Wellington Street.

After widespread criticism, the National Capital Commission later rescinded its decision to use the land in front of the Supreme Court building, and approved construction of the memorial in the Garden of the Provinces and Territories.

These were the other 4 finalists

Team space2place

(Supplied)

• Designed by Vancouver-based landscape architect Jeff Cutler and Canadian artist Ken Lum.

Team Mills

(Supplied)

• Designed by Hamilton, Ont.-based public art consultants Karen and Ben Mills; landscape architects Silvano Tardella and Robert M. S. Ng; and artists Vong Phaophanit and Claire Oboussier.

Team Moskaliuk

• Designed by Wiktor Moskaliuk, a Markham, Ont., architect, with landscape architect Claire Bedat and artist Larysa Kurylas, both from Washington, D.C.

Team Reich+Petch Architects

(Supplied)

• Designed by Tony Reich, a Toronto architect, Catherine Widgery, an artist from Cambridge, Mass., and Matthew Sweig, a Toronto landscape architect.