the proposal was an entry to a competition organised by the RNLI to design a memorial and garden to commemorate the lives of all those who have served the RNLI over the past 180-plus years - especially those 438 who have died while saving lives at sea. the design sought to create a simple contemplative space within an incoherent urban environment. walls containing the names of those remembered were used to enclose the memorial and garden. at one end of the garden a tall vertical slab anchors the space within the town and provided a surface for the reflection of light from a square pool within the garden. an area of coastal grasses acts as a counterpoint to the pool.