Caruso St John Architects

2016–2017
Location: London, UK
Client: United Kingdom Holocaust Memorial Foundation
Project Status: Competition

This competition for a UK memorial to the Holocaust was made in collaboration with the artists Rachel Whiteread and Marcus Taylor. The memorial will be located in Victoria Tower Gardens adjacent to the Houses of Parliament, and will act as both a monument and a place of education about the holocaust.

The catastrophic events of the Holocaust took place outside the UK and the mass graves, remnants of atrocity and concentration camps that are found in mainland Europe do not exist on British soil. The design does not, therefore, commemorate a particular place, but instead embraces universal themes and foregrounds the first-hand testimony of survivors.

The proposal consists of two parts – a cast, translucent sculpture above ground and a series of large chambers below ground. The sculpture brings natural light into the largest and most memorable of these spaces – the ‘Hall of Voices’ – where visitors will hear the accounts of Holocaust survivors and discover directly the network of lives, places and emotional bonds that were destroyed.

The ten shortlisted designs have been shown in several locations around the UK and a decision is expected in autumn 2017.