The community of Askøy approached our school with the possibility to design a memorial for two of the children who were killed on the island of Utøya during the tragic events of July 2011. This is an assignment that we began as a class in December 2011, and which the community managed to realise during 2013. It was a humbling experience and our first ‘real’ project.

We started working in small groups, coming up with concepts for the memorial. After a presentation to the local community, our group’s design was chosen to develop further. Our idea was simple and strong; comprising of two main shapes, each one designed specifically to represent the personality of each of the children. There is a specific point where they overlap and connect. To unite the two elements, we decided to concentrate the bulk of the colour and lighting where they intersect. This, we considered, to be the heart of the sculpture.

The community’s reaction and feedback to our final presentation was a positive one. The final images included here show how the sculpture sits in its location on the island of Askøy.