Highgate Cemetery, the resting place of many well-known people from Karl Marx to Lucian Freud, recently announced the finalists in its Landscape and Architectural Projects competitions.
This takes the Cemetery a step closer to commissioning a new 25-year masterplan for the site, which will secure its future and ensure it remains a historic, and sustainable, twenty-first century cemetery.
Last November the Friends of Highgate Cemetery Trust (FOHCT) launched two competitions to find the best talents in landscape design and architecture to conserve and enhance the site. The competition brief set out the challenges and opportunities for Highgate Cemetery posed by climate change, decay and evolving visitor expectations.
Entrants were asked to balance the requirements of a working cemetery with the cultural heritage and community needs, along with a growing number of visitors.
The competitions attracted practices with some of the most creative and internationally recognised expertise in their fields.
The finalists are:
The Landscape Competition:
- Colvin and Moggridge
- Gustafson Porter and Bowman
- J&L Gibbons
- Periscope
The Architectural Projects Competition:
- Caruso St John
- Dow Jones
- Hopkins
- Manalo & White
- MICA Architects
- Purcell
The landscape finalists will now develop their ideas before an online public exhibition of their proposals in April, while the architectural finalists will set out their understanding of Highgate Cemetery’s needs and their approach to design. The winners will be announced in May.
Martin Adeney, Chair of the Friends of Highgate Cemetery Trust said:
‘We are delighted to have had a such a strong response to our Landscape and Architectural Project competitions. The output will provide us with a landscape vision and blueprint for managing the Cemetery over the next 25 years. Changes will take place gradually and it will be some time before we see work beginning. Meanwhile, we look forward to seeing developed submissions from the finalists and will welcome thoughts on the Landscape Masterplan concepts when we launch our online exhibition in April.
‘The winners of the competitions will be announced in May and we will work with them to ensure the Cemetery remains the place of enchantment which so many people value, whose carefully-tended natural environment provides sanctuary for those buried here and their loved ones, as well as the thousands who visit.’
Find out more at the Highgate Cemetery competition website
Image and Video Credits: Highgate Cemetery
