Norman Foster wins contest to transform St James’s Park in tribute to late queen’s ‘unifying force’

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By Caroline Davies

Foster + Partners has won the competition to design the new Queen Elizabeth II memorial, beating a shortlist which included Heatherwick Studio

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By Gino Spocchia and Richard Waite

Foster + Partners is the winner out of five finalists in a competition to design the national memorial to Queen Elizabeth II in St James' Park

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From : Cabinet Office, The Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee and The Rt Hon Pat McFadden MP

 « OMA’s new bridge for Bordeaux offers space for public events, but little reason to linger on residents’ daily commutes, writes John Bingham-Hall

The Architectural Review, 16 June 2025 | By John Bingham-Hall | Buildings

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While Mareterra plays it very safe in terms of the accommodation it offers, the district does stand out in one respect: its landscaping. Designed by Michel Desvigne, it eschews the Riviera tradition of exotic ornamental gardens for something much more understated and ecologically serious. “It’s not merely a decorative backdrop,” declares Desvigne. “It’s a new piece of coastal territory, featuring all the plant species you would find in the Mediterranean,” from underbrush to the umbrella pine. With soil depths that are unusually generous for the circumstances, a residents’ charter that imposes the same species on Mareterra’s private gardens, and a continuity with the seashore planting of the next-door Larvotto quarter, a green corridor is formed that should attract indigenous fauna. Moreover, the public spaces are beautifully designed, with blond Burgundy stone, in both rough and smooth finishes, that forms pool beds, piazzas, and pathways, while the numerous aquatic features include a seawater swimming pool, a 2,600-foot-long stream zigzagging down the hill, and sheets of reflecting water on the land side of Le Renzo, where the neighborhood meets the old shoreline. If any aspect of Mareterra should serve as an example for the future, it surely is this.

Mareterra adds 3% of territory to the small but very rich principality, focusing on biodiversity, building innovation and architecture by big international names.

Esteemed architectural firms, including Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Valode & Pistre Architectes, Foster + Partners, Stefano Boeri Architetti, and Tadao Ando, collaborated on designing the new structures built on this innovative land reclamation project. The landscape plan, with a strong focus on biodiversity, was designed by Michel Desvigne firm.

"Landscape designer Michel Desvigne has layered this land with pine trees and Mediterranean species, a palette consistent across public and private areas of green space that together cover nearly 50 per cent of the masterplan. Desvigne has extended his minimalist urban design from the neighbouring Larvotto beach development (also by RPBW), so now there’s a flowing, 4.1km pale limestone coastal pathway, which on its opening morning is busy already with runners, tiny dogs, elderly couples, solo millennials with headphones, parents with strollers and construction workers on their breaks".

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"Renzo Piano Building Workshop contributed to the design of the Port district and the Le Renzo residential building, while Michel Desvigne orchestrated the landscape design, blending urban and natural elements". 

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