Team MacLeod
Images of the design concept
Team members
- Polymetis, artist
- James B. Lennox & Associates, landscape architecture
- GRC Architects, architecture
Design intent
The proposed commemorative artwork is a solar device that pays tribute to fallen Global Affairs Canada employees by aligning their names in an infinite dialogue with the physical center of the solar system, our sun.
The form and orientation of the work are derived from the natural phenomenon of the Analemma, whose geometry is the result of tracing the sun's annual movement relative to a fixed point in space and time. The tracing results in a figure 8 pattern, a symbology used throughout the project to explore the notions of the infinite related to the persistence of love and memory.
At the heart of the project, the central space is a spherical void, referencing the globe, carved from the monolith. This material subtraction is used to express the idea of absence, the missing loved ones who died in the service of Global Affairs Canada missions abroad.
Transcript of the Global Affairs Canada Commemorative Artwork Team MacLeod video
Video length: 1:30 minutes
The visual elements are renderings and animation.
[Soft music playing]
Text on screen: [Global Affairs Canada Commemorative Artwork
- Polymetis
- GRC Architects
- James B. Lennox Landscape Architects]
[Animation pans a figure eight shape made up of white dots against a black background]
Text on screen: [In astronomy, an analemma is a diagram showing the position of the sun in the sky as seen from a fixed location on earth at the same mean solar time, as that position varies over the course of a year.
The diagram will resemble a figure 8 (∞)]
Text on screen: [The proposed site-specific artwork is inspired by the analemma and symbolism of the figure eight, aligning each commemorated individual’s name to the noonday sun on their date of death.]
[Animated diagram of the path of the sun at the commemorative artwork site; outline of proposed artwork overlayed]
Text on screen: [Artwork site
Site-specific sun path diagram
Annual area of sun
12:00 Analemma
Proposed Artwork
Aligned to sun]
[Rendering of aerial view of the site and the commemorative artwork design]
[Rendering of commemorative artwork, a large concrete sculpture made-up of three forms; the sun shines through the spaces between the forms; summer scene with people approaching along the pathway]
Text on screen: [View from Sussex Drive]
[Animation shows path of travel through and around the forms that make up the artwork, showing people seated and walking, as well as a flower garden in bloom]
Text on screen: [Ceremonial forecourt
Inner chamber of remembrance]
Text on screen: [The artwork explores notions of the infinite (∞)related to the persistence of love and memory]
Text on screen: [Garden of reflection
Analemma opening]
[Animation shows bronze figure eight sculpture at centre of the commemoration artwork]
Text on screen: [In loving memory of the Government of Canada employees who served Global Affairs Canada and died in service to their country, we hereby dedicate this solemn place of reflection and remembrance.]
[Rendering of individual white nameplate set in the bronze sculpture]
Text on screen: [Marc Bastien December 12, 2000]
View the other teams' designs
Click on the images below to view the design concepts of the other teams.
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