Unveiled: 10 emotive designs hoping to be UK’s Shoah memorial
Downing Street this week announced its shortlist of top architects from around the world vying to deliver the nation’s new Holocaust memorial
These are the 10 powerfully evocative designs being considered for the new national Holocaust memorial and learning centre next to the Houses of Parliament.
The Holocaust Memorial Foundation this week revealed the blueprints, produced by some of the world’s top architects and artists, for an iconic facility to be erected beneath a new national memorial in Westminster.
After a competition including 92 teams from 26 countries around the world, an exhibition of the finalists’ concepts was held in Downing Street last week, with the winner announced this summer.
The facility, in Victoria Tower Gardens, will include testimony from British survivors and liberators and were key proposals of David Cameron’s Holocaust Commission. He revealed the site of the memorial in January.
Sir Peter Bazalgette, chair of the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation tasked by the government to deliver the memorial, said: “This important new memorial will honour victims and survivors of Nazi persecution, educate future generations about the dangers of where prejudice and hatred can lead and serve as a powerful statement of our values as a nation.”
Prime Minister Theresa May said: “There will be much debate and discussion in the consultation over the next few months – and I encourage you all to get involved. But one thing is certain. I will see to it that Britain will have that national memorial and education centre – standing proudly and permanently as a testa- ment to our values right next to Parliament.”
She added that the centre would include the testimony of Britain’s Shoah survivors “so their voices will live on long after we are all gone”.
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said: “With such an exceptional shortlist I’ve no doubt the new memorial will stand as a fitting tribute.”
Holocaust Memorial Day Trust chief executive Olivia Marks-Woldman said: “This will be an exciting opportunity to create a memorial of lasting significance to Britain and to honour the memories of so many.”
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