Oshinowo Studio Reveals Design for New Commonwealth War Graves Memorial Honoring Sierra Leone’s WWI Carrier Corps

Lagos-based architects Oshinowo Studio have revealed a new memorial design commissioned by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) to honor the fallen of the Sierra Leone Carrier Corps during World War I. The design is an intervention into the existing Freetown Memorial, built in 1930 and designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

Oshinowo Studio Reveals Design for New Commonwealth War Graves Memorial Honoring Sierra Leone’s WWI Carrier Corps
Render of the new memorial design by Oshinowo Studio for Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Image © Hayes Davidson Render of the new memorial design by Oshinowo Studio for Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Image © Hayes Davidson

Lagos-based architects Oshinowo Studio have revealed a new memorial design commissioned by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) to honor the fallen of the Sierra Leone Carrier Corps during World War I. The design is an intervention into the existing Freetown Memorial, built in 1930 and designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

The existing podium, located outside the Secretariat Building in Freetown, commemorates soldiers of the First World War and later incorporated servicemen from the Second World War by removing a small mention of the men of the Carrier Corps, a removal this project seeks to address. Studio founder Tosin Oshinowo is the first woman and the first West African architect to design a memorial for the CWGC.

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