The Foster + Partners design with Yinka Shonibare and Michel Desvigne Paysagiste was announced as the winner after a six-week public consultation looking at five shortlisted proposals for a permanent national memorial to the late Queen Elizabeth.
The eyecatching centrepiece of the memorial is the translucent Unity Bridge, but it's an ambitious plan than completely reimagines a huge swathe of St James’s Park, which will feature sculptures of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, a relocated Marlborough Gate, and an entirely new 'Prince Philip Gate' entrance.
The park, which sits between Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey in the heart of Central London, was originally designed in 1820 by the architect John Nash. While the winning design embraces the tranquil calm of the original — with a natural tesselated path weaving through the trees — many of the elements introduced by Foster, Shonibare and Paysagiste are very much 21st century.
'The Commonwealth Garden and Yinka Shonibare’s Wind Sculpture define a space for reflection and shared experience,' read the notes on the winning design. 'The Community Garden’s artistic installations celebrate the diversity of the United Kingdom; and the Unity Bridge is a jewel crowning the path and Memorial journey.'
The elements on show are more than just visual, howver:
'Throughout, the Queen’s voice is ever present through audio installations and inscriptions, alongside an ever-evolving digital conservatory, accessible from the site, or anywhere in the world,' the notes conclude.
All five of the entrants chose the lake — a remnant of the lost River Tyburn — as a focal point of the work, which has a budget of between £23 million and £46 million.
Tom Stuart-Smith National Monument design for Queen Elizabeth II
One proposal, from Heatherwick Studio (above; with Halima Cassell, MRG Studio, Webb Yates and Arup), incorporated a Memorial Walk and a 'Bridge of Togetherness' made from 70 giant, limestone lilypads (one for each year of the Queen’s reign), with a statue in the middle beneath a canopy of eight sculptural lilies. It was perhaps the most flamboyant option, and attractive, even if it might have made St James’s Park look like Singapore.
Tom Stuart-Smith National Monument design for Queen Elizabeth II
Another entrant, from Tom Stuart-Smith (with Jamie Fobert Architects, Adam Lowe (Factum Arte) and Structure Workshop) would have centred on an exact cast of the 900-year-old Signing Oak in Great Windsor Park, which would have been made to 'float' on a plinth in the lake, glimmering and majestic, connected to a path made of stones from all around Britain, ‘from Caithness to Cornwall’. This design also called for a new entrance on The Mall, a figurative sculpture of the Queen, and a ‘soundscape of memories’ playing authentic sounds of the Commonwealth.
WilkinsonEyre National Monument design for Queen Elizabeth II
Wilkinson Eyre’s proposal (above; with Lisa Vandy and Fiona Clark, Andy Sturgeon Design, Atelier One and Hilson Moran), would have created ‘a thread of pathways and landscapes gently woven through the natural fabric of St James’s Park — its trees, lake, and terrain — creating a contemplative journey intened her seven decades of service’. Including a pair of bridges, the threads were designed to represent ‘defining themes of Her Majesty’s life: Reign, Faith, Commonwealth, Values, Nature, Family, and Prince Philip’.
Foster+Partners National Monument design for Queen Elizabeth II
Lastly, J&L Gibbons wished to create ‘a meandering flow of geology carrying people through an ephemeral choreography of blossoming and colour beneath the high tree canopy’; it would have been a bridge ‘over soil, tree roots and water’ made from stone from the four nations and stretching from The Mall to Birdcage Walk, inspired by the ethos that the Queen was the nation’s bedrock. Various paths lead to places such as a Whispering Walk and Magnolia Glade.
Creating a space for reflection was at the core of the design brief, but other factors, such as value for money, visitor experience and sensitivity to the original masterplan for the Grade I-listed park, are important. A separate search for a sculptor to work alongside the winner is ongoing.
Visit malcolmreading.com/queenelizabethmemorial/gallery for more information about the winner and all the entrants.
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