Architect’s Journal / RIW Going Underground Competition


This ideas competition called for a radical underground structure beneath a UK landmark.  Our idea creates an underground structure at the Angel of the North.

The story of the Angel of the North is told in a new below ground education pit, sunk to the depth of the Angel’s pile foundations and revealing the state of the art engineering in it’s construction.

The Angel sits above old coal mine workings, in-filled to create the roots of the sculpture 20 metres below the surface. The scale of the foundations and the mining history of the area are experienced in the journey from the hillside to the pit floor.

The underground concept and grass cap ensure that the Angel remains as an object in the landscape.

The entry features on the Architect’s Journal website at the link here.