Giant lily pads and a bronze tree are among designs for Queen Elizabeth II’s memorial

LONDON AP What could be a better memorial to Queen Elizabeth II Britain s longest-reigning monarch than a pod of faintly psychedelic giant lily pads Perhaps a big bronze tree or a recording of the late monarch s voice All those ideas feature among the five finalists for a permanent London monument to Elizabeth who died in September at the age of after years on the throne The leadership is asking for inhabitants feedback on an online exhibition of the designs that opened Wednesday Competition organizers put out the call to designers for an emotionally powerful place and a space for pause and reflection The memorial will be built near Buckingham Palace in St James s Park an immaculately landscaped green space known for its waterfowl-filled lake resident pelicans and neatly pruned flower beds Computer-generated images of the five finalists show a park transformed The entry by designer Thomas Heatherwick s Heatherwick Studio includes a canopy of giant limestone lily pads with twisting stems towering over a statue of the queen Another concept is a tranquil family of royal gardens linked by a natural stone tessellated path designed by architect Norman Foster s firm Foster Partners with a rippling wind sculpture by artist Yinka Shonibare and audio installations featuring Elizabeth s voice The other concepts include a bedrock bridge because the queen was the nation s bedrock and forested glades by landscape architects J L Gibbons a memorial by garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith centered on a bronze cast of an ancient oak tree and a thread of pathways and landscapes gently woven through the natural fabric of the park by architects WilkinsonEyre The queen s former private secretary Robin Janvin who is chairing the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee mentioned the goal is to create a landmark memorial of outstanding beauty that celebrates and honors the life of Queen Elizabeth II Memories of her long reign are still fresh for so numerous of us and we need to capture the essence of them for future generations he explained Separately the committee will select an artist to create a sculpture of Elizabeth as part of the final design Several of the shortlisted proposals feature statues of the queen on horseback The community consultation closes on May and the committee is expected to announce the winning bid in the summer The final design is scheduled to be submitted to King Charles III and Prime Minister Keir Starmer for approval in the th anniversary of the queen s birth Building the memorial is expected to cost between million pounds and million pounds million and million the regime commented Find more of AP s coverage at https apnews com hub royalty - This story has been corrected to say that Thomas Heatherwick is a designer not an architect Source