Reparation

Steel Frame Exhibition-cum-Memorial

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The challenge was to design a building in response to the Transatlantic Slave Trade, on the site where the statue of Edward Colston once stood.

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The toppling of Colston’s statue marked a change in public attitudes, making me see the empty plinth as a symbol of hope for the future, similar to the light at the end of a tunnel. Thus, I wanted to create an exhibition with a memorial space celebrating the empty plinth.

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The long, prism-like form of the building and the shadows created by the continuous skylights create a direct, ceremonial path along the linear axis of the plinth. A distinct change in lighting, material, structure and level highlights the utmost importance of the final room, the ‘Tower of Hope’, which houses the empty plinth.