Foster + Partners Wins Queen Elizabeth II National Memorial Competition
Rendering of Foster + Partners’ winning design for a public memorial to Queen Elizabeth II at St. James Park in London. The winning team also includes landscape architect Michel Desvigne and artist Yinka Shonibare, whose Wind Sculpture is depicted here at the site’s Commonwealth Garden. Image © Foster + Partners, courtesy Malcolm Reading Consultants
The eponymous practice of newly nonagenarian British architect Norman Foster has won a closely watched competition seeking design proposals for a planned national memorial to Queen Elizabeth II at St. James Park in central London. Organized by Malcolm Reading Consultants, the competition has been described as one of the most significant public design initiatives in modern British history.
Joining Foster + Partners on the winning team is French landscape architect Michel Desvigne and British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare. As revealed in February, four other shortlisted teams were in the running alongside Foster + Partners, each of them tasked to “create a memorial masterplan that celebrates Queen Elizabeth II’s extraordinary life of service and provides a space for pause and reflection.” Those multidisciplinary teams—some comprising up to six members—were led by Heatherwick Studio, WilkisonEyre, landscape architecture practice J&L Gibbons, and Tom Stuart-Smith, an English landscape architect and garden designer. All five finalist designs were unveiled just last month.
Rendering of the new pedestrian bridge proposed for the memorial site. Image © Foster + Partners, courtesy Malcolm Reading Consultants
Taking public feedback into consideration, the final design was chosen by a selection panel formed as part of an independent, joint governmental/royal advisory body known as the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee. The committee is chaired by the late Queen’s former private secretary, Robin Janvrin, who described the winning proposal as an “ambitious and thoughtful masterplan [that] will allow us and future generations to appreciate Queen Elizabeth's life of service as she balanced continuity and change with strong values, common sense, and optimism throughout her long reign.”
Plan view of the Queen Elizabeth II Memorial at St. James Park Image © Foster + Partners, courtesy Malcolm Reading Consultants
Among other elements, the winning proposal envisions a new Prince Philip Gate, gardens with “artistic installations,” and a translucent footbridge, complete with a cast-glass balustrade inspired by the Queen’s wedding tiara, that would replace the existing Blue Bridge at St. James Park. In a statement, Foster refers to the bridge as being “symbolic of Her Majesty as a unifying force.” While Foster + Partners’ proposal resonated with the committee’s selection panel (and the public), the design came in third place, receiving just 18 percent of the vote, in a reader poll held by the Architects’ Journal. The Heatherwick and Tom Stuart-Smith (with Jamie Fobert Architects) proposals got the first and second most votes, respectively, from readers.
As previously reported, the future memorial, which has a provisional construction budget of roughly $58 million, will be realized in an area of the park near where the Mall, a royal road running from Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace, passes by Marlborough Gate. The location, per the competition organizers, was selected due to its “proximity to the ceremonial route of the Mall, its historical and constitutional significance, and personal connection to Queen Elizabeth.”
Images © Foster + Partners, courtesy Malcolm Reading Consultants
Calling the selection of his firm’s team “an honor and a privilege,” Foster remarked in a statement:
“I knew The Queen on formal occasions but also enjoyed her informality when attending events as a member of the Order of Merit. We have sought to reflect these qualities of the formal and informal in our design, with an appeal across a wide range of ages and interests. To these ends, we have discreetly stretched the boundaries of art and technology with a deliberately gentle intervention. Our design will have the minimum impact on the nature and biodiversity of the Park and it will be phased to ensure that the precious route across it will never be closed.”
Following a concept development period carried out in cooperation with the committee as well as the selection of a sculptor to design the memorial’s figurative element, the Foster + Partners-led team’s final design will be revealed next summer, coinciding with what would have been Queen Elizabeth’s 100th birthday. Construction is tentatively scheduled to commence in summer 2027.
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