The freetown war memorial, Freetown’s First World War monument, named the soldiers who died in the war. It did not name the Sierra Leone Carrier Corps men who died alongside them. A new structural glass prism now rises above the stone monument to correct that omission.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) commissioned the project from Lagos-based Oshinówò Studio. Dezeen reported that the memorial was officially opened at the weekend. The new glass structure sits on top of the stone freetown war memorial designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.
Sources differ on the original monument’s date. Africa’s Column, ArchDaily and e-architect give 1930 as the year it was built. Dezeen and Wallpaper date the Lutyens design to 1931.
The Sierra Leone Carrier Corps was made up of men enlisted to transport supplies and materials in the First World War. Its members carried food, ammunition, water and medical supplies over long distances.
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The corps lost 946 members who died in the war. The number of names differs by source. Dezeen and Africa’s Column give 946. Wallpaper says more than 900.
The original freetown war memorial honoured soldiers who died in the war but did not include the names of the Carrier Corps men.
Oshinówò’s team built a new element on top of the Lutyens structure. Four structural glass fins rise above the stone base. Each one is etched with the names of the carrier corps dead. The studio says the design follows the tapering geometry of Lutyens’ monument, so the new structure rises higher.
Oshinówò said the placement of the names carries meaning. “In this gesture, the Sierra Leone Carrier Corps are symbolically carried by their comrades, reversing the relationship between those who served and those who were served,” she told Dezeen.
The materials were chosen for contrast. According to Africa’s Column, stone signals the permanence of the original monument, while glass gives the addition a lighter, more fleeting presence. The new names sit in that glass layer.
How the Freetown War Memorial Was Engineered
Engineering was the hardest part of the job, according to Oshinówò. The Lutyens monument was never designed to carry extra weight. Her team developed a reinforcement strategy, which she calls a “root canal,” so the new structure could stand without damaging the old masonry, she told Wallpaper.
The design also includes a beacon. Dezeen and Wallpaper report a beam visible from five kilometres. Africa’s Column, ArchDaily and e-architect give a range of 2.5 kilometres. The beacon will be lit on significant days.
Wallpaper gives the structure’s height as 8.4 metres and the four glass fins as 4,000 kilograms in total. Those figures come from the studio. Africa’s Column, ArchDaily and e-architect put the full memorial at nine metres.
The stonemasons and bronze specialists who restored the existing memorial came from the CWGC, according to Dezeen. Wallpaper says the restoration returned the 1930s structure to its former condition ahead of the new elements’ reveal. The new work also drew on engineers, glass designers, laser consultants and construction partners from Nigeria, the Netherlands, Spain, Sierra Leone and the UK.
An epitaph by the poets Nii Ayikwei Parkes and Julianknxx appears on the pavilion. It is written in Krio and English and reads: “From today you will be carried, you are borne, now and ever.”
Africa’s Column reports that CWGC historians and local heritage consultants identified the names. Claire Horton CBE, the CWGC’s director general, framed the project as a correction. “It is about righting a historic wrong and renewing a promise we made a century ago,” she said, as quoted by Wallpaper.
Oshinówò Studio, which is based in Lagos according to Africa’s Column, designed the sierra leone war memorial extension.
The project also extends beyond the capital. Africa’s Column and e-architect report four satellite sites in the provinces where Carrier Corps members were enlisted. Those sites will carry smaller memorials designed to match the freetown war memorial.
Memorials that set new material against heavy historic weight also appear in David Chipperfield‘s concrete pavilion built around a monumental artwork. David Chipperfield’s concrete pavilion for Kiefer’s artwork shows how a new structure can frame something monumental.
The freetown war memorial sits in a courtyard flanked by government buildings near the Ministry of Finance, and its access is restricted. The studio wanted the light to reach people who cannot enter the site. For the first time, the names of the men who carried the war’s supplies can be read in the city they served.
H/T dezeen.com
Frequently asked questions
Who commissioned the new glass addition to the Freetown war memorial?
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) commissioned the project from Lagos-based Oshinówò Studio. The studio designed the structural glass prism that now rises above the stone monument designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.
How many glass fins were added to the Freetown war memorial?
Four structural glass fins rise above the stone base of the memorial. Each fin is etched with the names of the Sierra Leone Carrier Corps men who died in the First World War.
What does the epitaph on the Freetown war memorial say?
An epitaph by the poets Nii Ayikwei Parkes and Julianknxx appears on the pavilion, written in Krio and English. It reads: “From today you will be carried, you are borne, now and ever.”
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