Memorial: The Latest Architecture and News

The UK's new Holocaust Memorial by Adjaye Associates and Ron Arad Architects is facing criticism for the location of the project from local residents and the Royal Parks. An application for the memorial and learning center is being considered by Westminster City Council, and a petition calling for the protection of the green space is already signed by more than 11,000 members of the public. Planned for Victoria Tower Gardens alongside the River Thames close to the Houses of Parliament, the project is made to be dedicated to the 6 million Jewish men, women and children and other victims murdered by the Nazis.

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Svigals + Partners has designed a Memorial Garden in honor of victims of gun violence in New Haven, Connecticut. Developed in collaboration with a partnership of concerned mothers, the scheme emerged from efforts by New Haven school teacher Marlene Miller Pratt, whose 18-year-old son was killed in 1988.

Working pro bono since April 2018, Svigals + Partners have designed the garden to be flanked by engraved stone pavers and lamppost wind chimes. Before culminating in a serene, protected, circular plaza, the scheme leads visitors past an original sculpture titled “The Lost Generation.” As visitors walk past, the sculpture depicts abstract human figures and are revealed and concealed depending on the visitor standpoint.

The World Trade Center site is to create a memorial honoring the thousands of people who have been affected by illnesses related to the September 11th, 2001 terror attacks in New York City. As reported by Curbed NY via The New York Post, the Memorial Glade site will honor rescue, recovery, and relief works as well as survivors and downtown residents who got sick or died from 9/11-related illnesses.

The tribute, designed by 9/11 memorial architects Michael Arad and Peter Walker, will include a path lined with six granite slabs pointed towards the sky. According to the museum, the 17.5 ton stone monoliths “are worn, but not beaten, symbolizing strength and determination through adversity.” The pieces will also incorporate steel fragments from the World Trade Center.

The Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial Commission announced the final design has been unanimously selected for the memorial in Newtown, Connecticut. The Clearing by Ben Waldo and Daniel Affleck of SWA Group was officially recommended by the commission, and the Board of Selectmen will make final approvals this month. Chosen out of three concepts unveiled in May, the winning memorial honors the 26 victims and survivors of the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

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From the creators of Museum Of The History Of Polish Jews in Warsaw, comes a competition finalist proposal for the new Museum for the Defense and Siege of Leningrad in St. Petersburg. Lahdelma & Mahalmäki Architects, in collaboration with Ralph Appelbaum Associates, designed three main parts: the Thread of Life (museum and exhibitions), the Memorial of Heroes of Leningrad and the Square of Testimony. Thought to have the popular vote, this entry sought to redevelop and reconnect the city of to the park and museum with its Neo-Classical grid.

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The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) has reviewed the revised concept for the National Washington WWI Memorial as part of several major commemoration and transport projects taking place in the capital city. Designed by architect Joseph Weishaar and sculptor Sabin Howard, the proposal won the memorial’s competition last year, beating out 4 other finalists with its multilevel design and use of relief sculpture.

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The Government of the United Kingdom and competition organizer Malcolm Reading Consultants have announced the ten architect teams selected to envision designs for the new National Memorial to the Holocaust, to be located next to the UK Parliament. Designs will encompass a “striking” new National Memorial in Victoria Gardens, as well as a possible below ground Learning Center.

The 10 shortlisted teams were selected from nearly 100 entries from teams across the globe by a jury made up of notable figures in British culture, religion and architecture, including Director of Stanton Williams Architects, Paul Williams; former Serpentine Galleries Director Dame Julia Peyton-Jones; and National September 11 Memorial and Museum Director, Alice M Greenwald.

The UK Government and Malcolm Reading Consultants have announced today an international competition for the design of a new National Memorial to commemorate the events of the Holocaust.

To be located next to Parliament in Victoria Tower Gardens in London, the new national landmark will "demonstrate the UK’s commitment to honouring the victims and survivors of the Holocaust, providing a place for quiet reflection as well as large-scale national commemorations." The competition brief also calls for the design of a potential below-ground learning center to accompany the memorial, which would provide visitors with the opportunity to learn more about the history of the Holocaust and the context of the memorial itself.

Zeller & Moye, working alongside artist Albert Weis, have been selected to design the new Martin Luther Memorial in Berlin. The competition, initiated by the Protestant Church of Berlin and the Berlin City Administration, asked entrants to design a memorial to Luther in central Berlin at the former Neuer Markt next to the St. Marienkirche—in the same location as a previous memorial to Martin Luther that was constructed in 1895 and destroyed in the Second World War. The brief also required designers to incorporate the existing statue of Martin Luther that survived from the earlier memorial.

In response to this brief, Zeller & Moye has envisaged a memorial based on the mirroring of the 1895 memorial: a negative form of the original plinth is carved into the ground in medium-gray concrete, while the statue of Luther is joined by a second, slightly abstracted replica, cast in aluminium with a mirrored finish.

On March 11, 2011, a massive earthquake and tsunami hit the coast of Japan at Sendai, damaging the Fukushima nuclear power plant, and taking over 10,000 lives. Over the past three years, only temporary memorial observances have been utilized to honor these victims in Sendai. To address this deficiency, MIT graduate student Beomki Lee has created a concept design for an innovative new memorial space called [ME]morial.

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