Adjaye Associates honours Cherry Groce with Brixton memorial design
The permanent installation will be unveiled in London's Brixton this autumn

In 1985, Cherry Groce was shot by police in her London home at the age of 37. She was left paralyzed, later passing away aged 63 as a direct result of injuries sustained that day. In her honour, Adjaye Associates has created a memorial design to be installed in Windrush Square, Brixton, the neighbourhood in which Groce lived.
The project, designed for the Cherry Groce Foundation, a charity founded to support marginalised Black, Caribbean and African communities, will not only serve as a visual reminder and memorial piece, but is also conceived as a pavilion for the local community. Providing shading and seating for passers-by, the structure was composed to complement the square's existing features and geometry.
‘Sir David Adjaye’s vision for the memorial aims to create awareness and understanding of the life, strength, and experience of Cherry Groce and her family,' the studio states. The single column represents Groce's strength, and the roof symbolises the Brixton community's ability to provide shelter. The piece is designed as a permanent reminder of the terrible injustice that Groce suffered.
‘The construction of this memorial will speak to restorative justice and will symbolise that what matters to the community, matters to London and the whole world,' says Adjaye. ‘This tragedy went too long in the public realm without acknowledgement and there is now renewed urgency and importance in finally facing this history'.
INFORMATION
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
Beloved British screenwriter Dennis Potter inspires an exhibition with a difference at Studio Voltaire
Hilary Lloyd's multi-faceted exhibition at Studio Voltaire considers Dennis Potter's life and work, from much-loved TV classics to power inequalities
-
Insert here: London Design Festival gets intimate with insertable design
At London Design Festival, Heirloom Studio showcases 36 objects – some life-saving, some pleasure-giving, all made to go inside the body
-
Postcard from Helsinki Design Week 2025
Helsinki Design Week turns 20 this year. Celebrating two decades of design, core themes of this year revolve around happiness and optimism: here are design critic Hugo Macdonald's ten highlights
-
The new 2025 London Open House Festival tours to book
2025 London Open House launches this weekend, running 13-21 September; here, we celebrate the newcomers in the residential realm, flagging the exciting additions to the festival's growing home tour programme
-
The wait is over – the RIBA Stirling Prize 2025 shortlist is here
The restored home of Big Ben, creative housing for different needs, and a centre for medical innovation – the RIBA Stirling Prize 2025 shortlist has just been announced, and its six entries are as diverse as they can be
-
Slides, clouds and a box of presents: it’s the Dulwich Picture Gallery’s quirky new pavilion
At the Dulwich Picture Gallery in south London, ArtPlay Pavilion by Carmody Groarke and a rich Sculpture Garden open, fusing culture and fun for young audiences
-
Bay House brings restrained modern forms and low-energy design to the Devon coast
A house with heart, McLean Quinlan’s Bay House is a sizeable seaside property that works with the landscape to mitigate impact and maximise views of the sea
-
A whopping 92% of this slick London office fit-out came from reused materials
Could PLP Architecture's new workspace provide a new model for circularity?
-
Meet the landscape studio reviving the eco-brutalist Barbican Conservatory
London-based Harris Bugg Studio is working on refreshing the Barbican Conservatory as part of the brutalist icon's ongoing renewal; we meet the landscape designers to find out more
-
A refreshed Victorian home in London is soft, elegant and primed for hosting
Sobremesa house by architects Studio McW shows off its renovation and extension, designed for entertaining
-
15 years of Assemble, the community-driven British architecture collective
Rich in information and visuals, 'Assemble: Building Collective' is a new book celebrating the Turner Prize-winning architecture collective, its community-driven hits and its challenges