WINNER: HERITAGE
The Tranformation of the Delville Wood War Memorial and Museum
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n 2016, as the centenary of the Battle of Delville
Wood approached, the memorial and museum
were added to and given a more appropriately
inclusive character. The upgrade to the memorial
was designed to reflect the true South Africa and
the concept did not refer to rank or race.
Having visited the site as part of the project
research, the architects realised that the site was a
very solemn and sensitive one and were reluctant to
start making major changes to the existing structures
or even to make major additional ‘statements’ on
site. The 1920’s Herbert Barker memorial is in fact
still beautiful and even though the subsequently
erected museum has something of a 1980’s feel
about it, they felt that they needed respecting in
their own right.
Original suggestions by the client to erect
large panels bearing the names of the deceased
according to rank or division were re-thought. It
was felt that if the memorial was going to reflect
the true South Africa, they couldn’t look at rank or
race. The changes needed to reflect all those who
had fallen equally. The client was in agreement with
this approach, so what resulted is a very gentle but
emotionally significant intervention in the landscape.
On entering the site, one will still first see the original
Herbert Baker memorial, with little idea that there is
anything new beyond it. On proceeding through the
arch of the memorial, the new intervention starts
to emerge. The architects have created a large
earth berm, bisected by a deep cut into the earth
on the axial pathway between the memorial and
the museum. This cut is symbolic of a scar – the
wound to South Africa that the massive losses at
the battle represented.
On either side, within the ‘scar’, concrete walls
lined with limestone bear the names of the fallen
soldiers in alphabetical order, irrespective of rank or
race – representing South Africans in a unified way.
From inside this space, one can see the tops of the
South African oak trees which line the walkway from
the memorial to the museum and which form a kind
of organic colonnade between them.
Outside the scar, on either side, are carefully
landscaped gardens of remembrance, planted
with flowers in types and colours which all carry a
particular emotional or spiritual symbolism. Visitors
pass out of the scar, which is a tranquil yet solemn
reflection space, along the pathway through to
the museum. Even aspects of the museum which
perhaps could have been changed were left largely
intact, with additional layers of information added
in a way which acknowledges the role of non-white
South Africans in the battle.
Historically excluded from the memorial and
museum, The South Native Labour Corps was
originally formed as a result of the British request
SAPOA Awards
for labourers to alleviate a labour shortage at the
French ports on the western front. Four to five
thousand black South Africans were in active
service as soldiers at the Battle of Delville Wood.
In both the 1920’s memorial and the 1980’s
museum, no representation was made of the non-
white soldiers who also served and died in battle.
In 2016 the memorial was added to and given a
more appropriately inclusive character. The upgrade
to the memorial was designed to reflect the true
South Africa.
Developer: South African Heritage
Resource Agency (SAHRA)
Architects: The Creative Axis Architects
Project Managers: Anix Consulting
Quantity Surveyors: Talani
All Engineering: Nako Illiso
Other Consultants (France):
French Plans; STAG
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