Ten architectural firms are on the shortlist to design the UK’s Holocaust Memorial, including some of the world’s best known.
From nearly 100 submissions, a jury chose the following firms, in some cases with cooperating artists: Adjaye Associates and Ron Arad Architects; Allied Works; Anish Kapoor and Zaha Hadid Architects; Caruso St John Architects, Marcus Taylor, and Rachel Whiteread; Diamond Schmitt Architects; Foster + Partners and Michal Rovner; heneghan peng; John McAslan + Partners and MASS Design Group; Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects and David Morley Architects; and Studio Libeskind and Haptic Architects.
The design by Adjaye, who is fresh off the triumph of the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, in Washington, DC, includes shadowy, crypt-like galleries.
Anish Kapoor and Zaha Hadid Architects’ proposal for the UK Holocaust Memorial. Courtesy UK Holocaust Memorial International Design Competition.
Hadid Architects and Kapoor’s proposal features a grove of cypress trees leading the visitor to a spherical underground space under a giant bronze sculpture of a meteorite-like rock. Allied Works, overseen by Brad Cloepfil, suggests a grassy mound that is folded in a shape recalling that of a prayer shawl.
Sited in Victoria Tower Gardens, by the River Thames and Parliament, the memorial will appear alongside monuments to the expansion of suffrage, the abolition of slavery, and civic sacrifice. The government has committed some £50 million (about $62.6 million) to the costs of running it.
Adjaye Associates’ proposal for the UK Holocaust Memorial. Courtesy UK Holocaust Memorial International Design Competition.
Malcolm Reading, whose consultancy is organizing the competition, is the director of the project and the advisor to the jury, which includes Ben Helfgott, a Holocaust survivor; Julia Peyton-Jones, former Serpentine Gallery director; London Mayor Sadiq Khan; and architect Paul Williams.
The shortlist was announced on Friday, Holocaust Remembrance Day. The winner is expected to be announced this summer.