Location
Langemark
Client
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Design
2021
The Brooding Soldier is a Canadian war memorial near the Belgian town of Saint Julian in the Westhoek. It was designed by F. C. Clemenshaw and unveiled on July 8, 1923. The Brooding Soldier, popularly known as “Den Canadien,” is dedicated to the more than 2,000 Canadian soldiers who lost their lives in the first gas attack during the Second Battle of Ypres in World War I. The Brooding Soldier was protected as a monument in 2009. (wikipedia)
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission that maintains the memorial park on behalf of the Canadian Battlefields Memorials Commission commissioned me to create a design that better integrates the memorial park behind it with the immediate surroundings of the “Brooding Soldier. The visitor should have the incentive to move further into the park. In addition, thought should also be given during the design phase to make the memorial park less maintenance-intensive.
A roadside path winds through a woodland garden to a new memorial site. A circular memorial site where visitors can also sit for a moment in contemplation on the bench in addition to the ritual of remembrance.
