Foster + Partners, with Yinka Shonibare, to design the national memorial to Queen Elizabeth II
Foster + Partners has won the competition to design the national memorial to Queen Elizabeth II.
Five finalist teams were asked to create a masterplan that would honour and celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s extraordinary life of service and provide the public with a space for reflection.
Foster + Partners’ winning design concept celebrates Queen Elizabeth’s life through a time of great change, balancing tradition and modernity, public duty and private faith, the United Kingdom and a global Commonwealth. The design concept illustrates how she brought these dualities together: two gates, two gardens, joined by a bridge and unifying path.
Foster + Partners’ design concept features figurative sculptures and a new Prince Philip Gate. It also features gardens – dedicated to the Commonwealth and the communities of the United Kingdom – to create spaces for reflection and coming together. Artistic installations will celebrate the nation’s diversity. A new bridge, replacing the existing Blue Bridge, will feature a cast-glass balustrade that recalls Queen Elizabeth’s wedding tiara.
This design concept will be subject to change as it undergoes refining.
The Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee’s selection panel found Foster + Partners’, design, balancing formal and informal elements, impressive and capable of creating an engaging landmark to endure for generations to come. The panel also valued Foster + Partners’ artistry, use of space, technical skills and their sensitivity to the memorial’s location.
The winning team includes artist Yinka Shonibare and celebrated landscape designer, Michel Desvigne.
