The UK Government has announced the ten world-class teams that have been selected from almost 100 entries to create designs for the striking new National Memorial to the Holocaust being built next to Parliament. They will be judged by a high-profile independent jury of figures in British culture, architecture and religion, including Communities Secretary, Sajid Javid, Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, the Chief Rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, and broadcaster, Natasha Kaplinsky.
The international design competition, announced by Prime Minister Theresa May in September, attracted almost 100 entries from 26 countries. The ten shortlisted teams are now invited to submit designs for a striking new National Memorial in Victoria Tower Gardens, including a possible below ground Learning Centre, which will be taken forward subject to technical, financial, planning and other constraints.
The shortlisted design teams include some of the most internationally renowned architects and artists working together, as well as exciting new talents.
The design teams are as follows:
- Adjaye Associates (UK) with Ron Arad Architects, Gustafson Porter, DHA, All Clear, Accept & Proceed, Abigail Morris, and Jonathan Safran Foer
- Allied Works (US) with Ralph Appelbaum Associates, Robert Montgomery, OLIN, and Lisa Strausfeld
- Caruso St John (UK) with Rachel Whiteread, Marcus Taylor, Vogt Landscape Architects, Arup Lighting Design, and David Bonnett Associates
- Diamond Schmitt Architects (CA) with Martha Schwartz Partners, and Ralph Appelbaum Associates
- Foster + Partners (UK) with Michal Rovner and FuturePace, Local Projects, Avner Shalev, Simon Schama, Samantha Heywood, Tillotson Design Associates, David Bonnett Associates, and Whybrow
- heneghan peng architects (IE) with Gustafson Porter, Event, Bruce Mau Design, BuroHappold Engineering, Bartenbach, and Duncan Boddy (PFB Construction)
- John McAslan + Partners (UK) with MASS Design Group, DP9, London Communications Agency, Ralph Appelbaum Associates, Local Projects, Modus Operandi, JencksSquared, and Lily Jencks Studio
- Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects (FI) with David Morley Architects, Ralph Appelbaum Associates, and Hemgård Landscape Design
- Studio Libeskind (US) with Haptic Architects, Martha Schwartz Partners, Lord Cultural Resources, BuroHappold Engineering, Alan Baxter, Garbers & James, and James E. Young
- Zaha Hadid Architects (UK) with Anish Kapoor, Event London, Sophie Walker Studio, Lord Cultural Resources, Arup Lighting Design, Whybrow, and Access=Design
After a period of public consultation, seeking views from all communities across the UK, the winning team will be selected by an independent jury chaired by Sir Peter Bazalgette.
Jury members include:
- Sir Peter Bazalgette (Jury Chair), Chair, United Kingdom Holocaust Memorial Foundation and Chair, ITV Board
- Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom
- Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
- Rt Hon Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London
- Ben Helfgott MBE, Holocaust Survivor, Honorary President, ’45 Aid Society and President, Holocaust Memorial Day Trust
- Sally Osman, Director of Royal Communications
- Loyd Grossman CBE, Chair of Royal Parks
- Alice M Greenwald, Director, National September 11 Memorial and Museum
- Lord Daniel Finkelstein OBE, Journalist
- Baroness Kidron OBE, Film director and crossbench peer
- Dame Julia Peyton-Jones, Former Director of the Serpentine Galleries
- Paul Williams OBE, Director, Stanton Williams Architects
- Charlotte Cohen, Prime Minister’s Holocaust Youth Commissioner
- Natasha Kaplinsky, Broadcaster, Natasha recently recorded the testimony of over 100 Holocaust survivors and camp liberators.
Competition organiser, Malcolm Reading will advise the jury.
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Sajid Javid said:
“I am delighted that such an impressive line-up of the world’s best architects, artists and designers are getting involved and helping create our new National Memorial to the Holocaust.
“It will stand as a permanent reminder of where prejudice and hatred can lead and it will show our commitment to the fight against anti-Semitism, in all its forms.”
The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said:
“My first public engagement as Mayor was at the Yom HaShoah commemorations in London where I had the incredible honour of meeting and hearing from Jewish survivors and refugees who went through unimaginable horrors in the Holocaust. This experience reminds me once again why we must never forget these atrocities.
“I’m proud to support plans to create a National Memorial of the Holocaust in the heart of London.
“I look forward to joining the jury to choose a landmark to pay a fitting tribute to the six million Jewish lives lost in what was one of the darkest hours for humanity.”
Chair of the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation Sir Peter Bazalgette said:
“These teams are challenged with creating a vision for the Memorial which sensitively reflects the loss of life and humanity during the Holocaust. But it must also speak to everyone, with an unwavering commitment against all hatred and intolerance. The design will inspire people of all ages and backgrounds to commemorate and learn.”
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said:
“The new national Memorial to the Holocaust will be an enduring symbol of the UK’s absolute commitment to Holocaust education and to challenge hatred wherever we find it. The quality of the shortlisted design teams leaves me in no doubt that the eventual winner will rise to the tremendous responsibility of appropriately capturing these commitments.”
An exhibition of the finalists’ concept designs will be held in central London and locations around the UK from January 2017. They will also be available to view online ensuring that people from all backgrounds and all parts of the country have the opportunity to offer their comments. The jury will decide on the winning design team, which will be announced later in the spring.
This stage in the competition marks the next step in creating a new national landmark in the heart of the UK’s democracy, demonstrating a commitment to honouring the victims and survivors of the Holocaust, providing a place for quiet reflection as well as a focal point for national commemorations.
The proposed Learning Centre will give visitors an immediate opportunity to learn more, contextualising the Memorial, grounding it in historical fact as events fade from living memory and inspiring future generations to respect and embrace difference in the fight against hatred and prejudice.
It will also contain recordings of testimony from British Holocaust Survivors and Camp liberators, including unheard stories recently recorded as part of the Government’s initiative to ensure survivors who have never spoken out before have the opportunity to record their memories for posterity. The Centre will signpost visitors to the many further Holocaust educational resources that are available across the United Kingdom.
The competition is organised by the London-based international design competition consultancy, Malcolm Reading Consultants.
To follow the project, please visit the competition website.
UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation (UKHMF) was set up by the government with cross party support in January 2015 to advise on the delivery of the recommendations made by the Prime Minister’s Holocaust Commission: for a national memorial to the Holocaust, a world-class learning centre, an endowment fund to advance Holocaust education and an urgent programme to record British Holocaust survivor and camp liberator testimony.
UKHMF’s search for a possible site for the National Memorial and Learning Centre led to more than 50 locations being considered and included publication of a Site Specification and a thorough search of Central London by property experts CBRE.
Stanton Williams, Mace and WYG have also supported DCLG in surveying the site at Victoria Tower Gardens and supporting the exploration of a potential development below ground. Prior to making its recommendation, the cross-party Foundation held constructive discussions with Westminster City Council and the Parliamentary Estate. There will also be further extensive consultation with local residents and community groups in the months ahead.
The development of a Learning Centre would also include a wider landscape re-development to improve Victoria Tower Gardens as a public amenity space.
Read the full report of the Prime Minister’s Holocaust Commission: Britain’s Promise to Remember.
The Foundation’s full Board of Trustees is as follows: Sir Peter Bazalgette (Chair), Lord Andrew Feldman, Rt Hon Ed Balls, Lord David Alliance, Alex Salmond MP and MSP, Gerald Ronson CBE, Dame Julia Cleverdon DCVO, CBE, Alice M. Greenwald, Natasha Kaplinsky, Baroness Dido Harding, Peter Freeman, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and Sir Eric Pickles MP.
This is a two-stage international design competition independently organised by Malcolm Reading Consultants. See https://competitions.malcolmreading.co.uk/holocaustmemorial/