ET-302 memorial park in Ethiopia is a space of "remembrance, healing, and resilience"

Alebel Desta Consulting Architects and Engineers has completed the ET-302 Memorial Monument and Park in Ethiopia, a radial arrangement of paths and gardens dedicated to the 157 victims of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash.

Located on the flight's crash site near Addis Ababa, the park is the result of an international competition funded by stakeholders including Boeing and Ethiopian Airlines, and was developed in collaboration with members of the victims' families.

Addis Ababa-based Alebel Desta Consulting Architects and Engineers aimed to create a space that would "carry memory", providing a mixture of sculptures for both collective and solitary reflection united by landscaped paths.

"At the heart of the ET-302 Memorial was the idea of creating a space for collective remembrance, healing, and resilience," the studio told Dezeen.

"It wasn't just about building a monument, but about shaping a journey that allows families and communities to reflect and process loss."

"We wanted the architecture to carry memory not only through form and material but through atmosphere and intention," it continued.

The park is organised as a radial series of paved paths arranged around a central monument of red-pigmented concrete, accessed via the entrance to the southwest via a walkway that symbolises the final path of the flight.

The central monument is comprised of four separate segments, each symbolising one of the four continents the victims came from – Africa, Europe, North America and Asia – and divided by narrow paths that meet in a central sheltered space.

Within each of these segments are plaques for each victim modelled on plane windows, as well as a raised cubicle for solitary reflection, where bronze plaques are inscribed with individual stories.

"The material palette was deeply influenced by the natural and cultural landscape of Ethiopia. We looked to the earth tones of the Rift Valley as a grounding reference," the studio told Dezeen.

"We wanted the materials to feel familiar yet monumental, drawing strength from the land while speaking to both memory and continuity," it added.

To the west of this central space is an enclosed circle of land called the Burial Ground, which has purposefully been kept empty and is protected by a metal balustrade around its edge.

To the east is the Healing Monument, a sculptural piece of Corten steel that has been punctured with holes allowing light to pass through, which the studio describes as "symbolising the journey from sorrow to healing."

"Each space has a distinct emotional quality some open and public, others quiet and personal," the studio told Dezeen.

"The landscape ties everything together, guiding visitors through a sequence of spaces that reflect different phases of grief, memory, and resilience," it added.

On the outer edge of the park's circular route is an amphitheatre space for larger memorial services, and a small rock garden made from locally-sourced stones.

Alongside the entrance to the memorial park, amenities and facilities including a reception space and parking have been "discreetly woven into the landscape" by the studio, sheltered by a Corten-steel canopy designed to reference the language of the monument itself.

In 2023, artist Olafur Eliasson and architecture firm Studio Other Spaces designed an "anti-monument" to Ethiopia's former prime minister.

Addis Ababa, Melbourna and New York-based architect Emanuel Admassu said we need to dismantle the developer-led "value system" that is dictating architecture.

The photography is courtesy of Alebel Desta Consulting Architects and Engineers.

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