Memorial of The Forgotten - Greenwich, London
by Sarah Rahman
MA Interior Design Thesis Project, Royal College of Art, London
Running through the heart of London is a mighty river of the city, and when the tide is low, the capital's longest archaeological site is revealed. Digging the untold story about the River Thames, there are hundreds of unfortunate souls found beneath the calm surface of the river that most of them are anonymous, remain unknown and still waiting to be claimed. The UK Missing Person Bureau stated that there are 150 bodies unclaimed every year in the UK and approximately 3% were found in the Thames. These unidentified bodies are kept in the morgue forever waiting for their stories to be told. The fact that these bodies could not be cremated or buried for future references, the project begins to explore the beautiful path for these bodies to remain in the stacks forever till science can bring them back or science can answer their stories.
Using a disused pier in Greenwich, situated at the very last point of the river Thames; the U-bend shape between the Isles of Dogs and Deptford has help the bodies that were recently drowned to be found as they get congregated at this junction. This final junction traditionally called 'The Lower Hope Reach' was the last hope for these unfortunate souls to be found before they get immersed into the sea. Thus, the memorial reflects the idea of celebrating the found rather than to mourn or lament about the death.
The anonymity of this project positions the designer to implement the data collected from the report - facial and body proportions of the found, and their belongings found with them - into the memorial creating a responsive place where visitors could use their own memories to imagine these unfortunate souls. The project celebrates the found by elevating the bodies up to the cemetery on the second floor through different sizes of towers of which each holds a memorial, a cemetery and a mediation pavilion in different levels. The Memorial of The Forgotten is like a symbol of eternity, holds an inconsistent amount of the found in its unending cycle of the movement and change.
