Location:
Grounds adjacent to cathedral, Manchester, UK
Status:
Shortlisted international competition entry
Client:
Manchester Council
Scale:
0.5 hectare site
Constraints:
A permanent memorial to the 22 victims of the Manchester Arena bombing
IN MEMORIAM
Manchester Attack Memorial
Baca Architects with Artist Ralph Gunson Parker were shortlisted to design a memorial sited in Manchester’s Cathedral Quarter, a short distance from the Arena. The design celebrates the lives of the 22 with a musical harmony of 22 notes, played by the wind through a grove of 22 columns, one for each of those lost. These columns are connected and hold aloft a halo which resonates with their song. The columns are uniquely textured, designed to be hugged. For over 100 years the memorial remembers the birthdays of the 22, and marks the day in May when the tragedy took place, as the inscriptions bearing their names fall together at noon into shadow.
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Baca Architects with Artist Ralph Gunson Parker were shortlisted to design a memorial sited in Manchester’s Cathedral Quarter, a short distance from the Arena. The design celebrates the lives of the 22 with a musical harmony of 22 notes, played by the wind through a grove of 22 columns, one for each of those lost. These columns are connected and hold aloft a halo which resonates with their song. The columns are uniquely textured, designed to be hugged. For over 100 years the memorial remembers the birthdays of the 22, and marks the day in May when the tragedy took place, as the inscriptions bearing their names fall together at noon into shadow.
A memorial wall of niches allows a collection of over two thousand individual ‘keystones’ to gradually gather around the 22. These mark programs of outreach in local and global schools and communities where the story of the monument is learned as a message of tolerance, collective strength, and peace. The nearby ground is transformed into a new urban space for musical performance, from choir recitals to pitches for local buskers, singing to and with the memory of those the memorial celebrates.
'The Memorial sings in harmony with The Twenty Two,whom it celebrates and remembersBeneath a halo, in colours and song,it grows older with Manchester and its peoplewhere they could not,to become a place that reaches out across the whole worldpromoting peace and tolerance through music.'
Harmony
The heart of the memorial. The Twenty Two are together in a series of spires reaching tall to the low sky, each singing a different note in harmony with the others, each bearing an inscription and dedication to the person whose memory it keeps.
Halo
Encircling The Twenty Two, lifted aloft by themsymbolising the encircling embrace of the city,
Precious reflective golden patination, casting the sunlight amongst the spire forest, holding and reverberating the song of The Twenty Two within.
In daylight, through the outer surface of this halo a series of holes allow each spire inside to be illuminated by the noon sun on the birthday of the person it honours. The memorial remembers.
Growth
The future history of the memorial is not static, it is living and growing for the sake of those it remembers who may not.
Into the low protective berm where the memorial nestles surrounded by earth and meadow, are inset two thousand empty niches. Over the course of years and decades these niches are gradually filled with the colourful votive tributes – keystones
Ever more voices join The Twenty Two in song.
Place
Nestled within a wildflower meadow the 22 lives are interwoven with the landscape.
Each describes a series of radial ley lines flowing to the wider open spaces beyond. These lines chart celestial alignments, marking auspicious dates in the lives of the lost, and the positions of heavenly bodies for the next 100 years The nearby ground is transformed into a new urban space for musical performance, from choir recitals to pitches for local buskers, singing to and with the memory of those the memorial celebrates.
A line of flowing water connects the memorial to a plaque dedicated to the city’s first responders, civilians and services, relaying the story of the 22nd May 2017.
Team
BACA Architects (Architects)
HONEY (Architects)
Rob Nilsson (Structural Engineer)
Manja van der Worp (Structural Engineer)
Emma Kate Matthews RIBA (Acoustic/Sonic Consultant/Designer)
JAW Sustainability (Sustainability Consultants)
Tom Budd (CGI)
Sam Brady (Animation)
Baca Architects with Artist Ralph Gunson Parker were shortlisted to design a memorial sited in Manchester’s Cathedral Quarter, a short distance from the Arena. The design celebrates the lives of the 22 with a musical harmony of 22 notes, played by the wind through a grove of 22 columns, one for each of those lost. These columns are connected and hold aloft a halo which resonates with their song. The columns are uniquely textured, designed to be hugged. For over 100 years the memorial remembers the birthdays of the 22, and marks the day in May when the tragedy took place, as the inscriptions bearing their names fall together at noon into shadow.
A memorial wall of niches allows a collection of over two thousand individual ‘keystones’ to gradually gather around the 22. These mark programs of outreach in local and global schools and communities where the story of the monument is learned as a message of tolerance, collective strength, and peace. The nearby ground is transformed into a new urban space for musical performance, from choir recitals to pitches for local buskers, singing to and with the memory of those the memorial celebrates.
'The Memorial sings in harmony with The Twenty Two,
whom it celebrates and remembers
Beneath a halo, in colours and song,
it grows older with Manchester and its people
where they could not,
to become a place that reaches out across the whole world
promoting peace and tolerance through music.'
Harmony
The heart of the memorial. The Twenty Two are together in a series of spires reaching tall to the low sky, each singing a different note in harmony with the others, each bearing an inscription and dedication to the person whose memory it keeps.
Halo
Encircling The Twenty Two, lifted aloft by themsymbolising the encircling embrace of the city,
Precious reflective golden patination, casting the sunlight amongst the spire forest, holding and reverberating the song of The Twenty Two within.
In daylight, through the outer surface of this halo a series of holes allow each spire inside to be illuminated by the noon sun on the birthday of the person it honours. The memorial remembers.
Growth
The future history of the memorial is not static, it is living and growing for the sake of those it remembers who may not.
Into the low protective berm where the memorial nestles surrounded by earth and meadow, are inset two thousand empty niches. Over the course of years and decades these niches are gradually filled with the colourful votive tributes – keystones
Ever more voices join The Twenty Two in song.
Place
Nestled within a wildflower meadow the 22 lives are interwoven with the landscape.
Each describes a series of radial ley lines flowing to the wider open spaces beyond. These lines chart celestial alignments, marking auspicious dates in the lives of the lost, and the positions of heavenly bodies for the next 100 years The nearby ground is transformed into a new urban space for musical performance, from choir recitals to pitches for local buskers, singing to and with the memory of those the memorial celebrates.
A line of flowing water connects the memorial to a plaque dedicated to the city’s first responders, civilians and services, relaying the story of the 22nd May 2017.
Team
BACA Architects (Architects)
HONEY (Architects)
Rob Nilsson (Structural Engineer)
Manja van der Worp (Structural Engineer)
Emma Kate Matthews RIBA (Acoustic/Sonic Consultant/Designer)
JAW Sustainability (Sustainability Consultants)
Tom Budd (CGI)
Sam Brady (Animation)
SITE COMING SOON
