A SCULPTURE honouring Winchester’s war dead through symbolic rays of light has won a global design award.
Box 459, a new installation marking the First World War centenary, won best Temporary Structure at the Surface Design Awards 2015.
Currently on display at Abbey House, the piece shows 459 rays emerging from a steel cube – one for every local soldier who died in the Great War.
Architect Andy Ramus was inspired by a 1921 inscription of the names on Winchester Cathedral’s war memorial.
The steel cube’s dimensions – 1,100mm – reflect the traditions of Armistice Day while 43 apertures with coloured filters represent Winchester district’s 43 parishes.
Mr Ramus, managing director of Winchester-based AR Design Studio, said: "The response from members of the public who have seen the installation in its current location outside Abbey House, or witnessed its unveiling at Winchester Cathedral in the summer has been overwhelmingly positive.
"This recognition from the international architectural community is a great honour and we are very grateful to Winchester City Council for this opportunity to work on a project that illustrates the power of a simple idea – an object that transforms from war artefact to an illuminated focal point for reflection and remembrance as night falls.”
The city council commissioned the piece as part of the Imperial War Museum’s Lights Out event this summer.
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