Hawkins\Brown battles cream of British art world for Trafalgar Fourth Plinth
- Published: 09 January 2008 11:53
- Author: Richard Waite
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- Last Updated: 09 January 2008 12:56
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An architect at Hawkins\Brown is working with one of the six contenders vying for Trafalgar Square's empty Fourth Plinth.
Practice director David Bickle has collaborated with Bob & Roberta Smith on a proposed 18m-tall steel structure called Faites L'Art, Pas La Guerre.
The team's proposal is up against artwork by well-known names including Anish Kapoor, Tracey Emin and Antony Gormley.
The winning designs will replace Thomas Schütte's Model for a Hotel which received a lukewarm reception when it was installed on the plinth in November.
If successful, Bob & Roberta Smith's scheme, described as a 'monumental peace sign' and a 'beacon of our cultural future', would be installed in early 2009 as part of the ongoing rolling art programme which first started in 1999.
Powered by photovoltaics and a wind turbine, the illuminated tower, would stand four times the height of the tallest Fourth Plinth sculpture to date – Rachel Whiteread's inverted resin cast of the plinth from 2001.
The project is the result of an ongoing collaboration between Hawkins\Brown and Bob & Roberta Smith, which began nine years ago with the practice's second-placed competition entry for Hackney Town Square, called 'I believe in Hackney'.
The other shortlisted schemes are:
Antony Gormley's One and Other, which would see members of the public stand on the plinth for an hour at a time, 24 hours a day, over 12 months;
Jeremy Deller's The Spoils of War (Memorial of An Unknown Soldier), which would feature a bombed car brought over from Iraq;
Tracey Emin's Something for the Future – a sculpture of four meerkats;
Anish Kapoor's Sky Plinth, which would feature five 3m-wide concave mirrors; and
Yinka Shonibare's Nelson's Ship in a Bottle – a giant model of Nelson's HMS Victory in a massive bottle.
The winner will be announced in the spring.
