Norman Foster’s design for the Queen Elizabeth II Memorial in St James’s Park – the ‘Tiara Bridge’

Well, Harrumph readers – the Norman Foster design for the Queen Elizabeth II memorial has won the competition that I blogged about here. How very uninspiring, especially compared to my/our favourites the J.L Gibbons entry, with its planting plans and use of rock, and the Wilkinson Eyre with its interesting pathways. 

Well, I suppose that Foster has a lot of experience of building ‘stuff’, and he is 91 so it’s a way of honouring him. But I do feel it’s a missed opportunity. Do we need another equestrian statue of the Queen? Or what looks like a fairly scary statue of HM and Prince Philip? Hey ho. I guess none of it will scare the horses.

Yinka Shonibare’s Wind Sculpture looks interesting – judging by his previous work, it aims to ‘capture’ the idea of the wind. Shonibare was born in East London but grew up in Lagos, and generally his work combines influences from both places. Let’s see what this looks like when it’s finished.

Yinka Shonibare’s Wind Sculpture

Foster is known for the Gherkin and the Millenium Bridge and for what I think is one of his most successful re-imaginings, the Great Court at the British Museum, so he has ‘form’ for building interesting and controversial structures. I will be fascinated to see how the Memorial takes shape.