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| DHV Architect's RIBA competition entry for Langley Wood Visitor Hub |
Our vision for this project is to create a memorial path or procession to commemorate those affected by the First World War. This meandering path, leading the visitors from the car park to the building, becomes the defining element of the scheme.
The path is enclosed to the west by a procession of free-standing timber posts (the“forest of memory”) that raise gradually from the ground to form the building’s envelope. The access walk, surrounded by the posts and on the other by the hedgerow represents the trenches built on site for WWI training.
The names of war heroes and donors can be engraved on the “forest of memory” posts; the posts are also used as part of the way-finding strategy, which is fully integrated into the building’s fabric rather than added on.
The building consists of three elements: the “hub”; the service block and a glass-roofed entrance area. The “hub” is a tall, lightweight and airy structure emerging from the“forest of memory” that affords extensive views towards the memorial sites. This bright
and inviting multi-purpose space opens into a partly covered terrace facing the rolling landscape.
The service block is a lower, crescent-shaped earth-bag construction that contains the toilets and other ancillary accommodation. Both the “hub” and service block are accessed from a glazed entrance area spanning over the access path.
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| DHV Architect's RIBA competition entry for Langley Wood Visitor Hub |
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| DHV Architect's RIBA competition entry for Langley Wood Visitor Hub |
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| DHV Architect's RIBA competition entry for Langley Wood Visitor Hub |
