The London Covid Memorial

When an international ideas competition was announced to design a Covid-19 Memorial, we were keen to participate. Each entrant had to select a site, within their own country, for a memorial to honour those lives lost during the pandemic. We imagined the memorial site as Regent's Park, London -easily accessible yet also peaceful and green.

We were delighted to be awarded an honourable mention for this design, the only UK submission to be awarded.

Project Description

Almost 22,000 lives have been lost to Covid in London alone. This memorial translates that abstract number into architectural form. Each life lost is represented by a bronze post. Combined, these posts form a dense 50 metre square; the visitor grasps the scale of the pandemic on our city. 

Seemingly impenetrable, the memorial invites a route and views through. Like a journey through time, the path of interlocking circles is constrained in places, reminding us of the first wave, second wave, Omicron. The end is not visible. Yet there is respite; gardens representing tribute, hope and resilience are places to pause and reflect.

The site is Regent’s Park, near the heart of London. The circular form of the reflection pool is in homage to the park’s Inner Circle. In daytime, shimmering with sunlight, after dark, illuminated from below, a play of light animates the individual and the collective.

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