Early Sketch for the UK National Holocaust Memorial 01-04, 2017

Ron Arad RA (b. 1951)

RA Collection: Art

This image is one of four early sketches for the competition to design the UK National Holocaust Memorial. This digital image was created by Ron Arad Architects, and the proposal was awarded the commission in October 2017, developed by Ron Arad Architects in collaboration with Adjaye Associates and Gustafson, Porter + Bowman. The memorial will be built in Victoria Tower Gardens next to the Houses of Parliament in London, due to be completed in 2024.

The memorial will feature a steadily rising mound which visitors can ascend via a meandering path, before encountering a hidden cliff edge. The mound will be supported by huge patinated bronze walls which themselves enclose 22 narrow paths, each representing a country whose Jewish community was decimated by the Holocaust. The paths each direct visitors to a set of steps, leading down below the mound to an area for learning and contemplation. As well as remembering the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, the memorial will also be a space for commemorating other communities and individuals persecuted by the Nazis, including Roma, homosexual and disabled people.

The design for the memorial is intended to be inclusive and to resonate with audiences of all ages and backgrounds. The semi-abstract nature of this digital drawing reflects the fluid interpretation of the memorial and how each visitor will experience it in a unique and personal way.

Positioned close to the Houses of Parliament, the memorial seeks to evoke contemplation about all human tragedies, and the ongoing struggle for equality and human rights. Moreover, the memorial will stand alongside important monuments that are already located in Victoria Tower Gardens, including the Buxton Memorial which commemorates the abolition of slavery in the British Empire and a statue of Emmeline Pankhurst, the leader of the British suffragettes.

Each of this series of four sketches depicts the proposed memorial from different perspectives, emphasising its prominence in central London and the multiple viewpoints from which it can be experienced. This sketch shows the view of the memorial looking from the western end of Victoria Tower Gardens towards the Houses of Parliament. The tall orange-brown bronze walls appear in the foreground of the image, with the paths between them leading away from the viewer and down into the underground space for contemplation and temporary exhibits. The small spire of the Buxton Memorial can be glimpsed beyond the bronze walls, and the light grey mass in the background represents the Houses of Parliament on the other side of the Gardens.

Further reading:

http://www.ronarad.co.uk/architecture/uknhm/