The finalist entries for the UK Holocaust Memorial have been released online and are on exhibit in London. The exhibit is the culmination of an international design competition to design a memorial to the Jewish Holocaust, accompanied by a learning center. The memorial will be a new gathering place that will serve as a lasting testament to the victims and survivors of one of the darkest hours in world history. It is intended to remind us of the fragility of humanity's conscience and to heighten awareness that all our actions in some way promote, create, or allow the events of the past and those taking place in our global community today.
The memorial will be located in Victoria Tower Gardens, one of London's Royal Parks, on the bank of the River Thames, adjacent to the Houses of Parliament. OLIN is the landscape architect on the team led by Allied Works Architecture. The team’s scheme lifts and folds the landscape in the form of a tallit, or prayer shawl, creating a powerful memorial space below it, and leading to the learning center beneath the park. The biodiversity of the meadow that envelops the memorial symbolizes the human diversity we seek in society. Together the annual rebirth of the meadow, and the adjacent children's play area and garden represent the great hope of humanity: our children.
