Tszwai So

The Belarusian Memorial Chapel in London

Tszwai So with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya at the Belarusian church in London in 2023

So first gained critical acclaim internationally with his Church of St. Cyril of Turau and All the Patron Saints of the Belarusian People (also known as the Belarusian Memorial Chapel) in London, commissioned by the Holy See of Rome and completed in 2017. It is the first wooden church built in London since the Great Fire in 1666.[2] It won the public votes in the New London Architecture People's Choice Award 2017[5] and was nominated for the EU Prize in Contemporary Architecture - Mies Van der Rohe Award 2019, the highest accolade in European Architecture.[6] It was chosen by the Royal Academy of Arts as one of the 10 buildings to see at Open House London 2017.[7] Architizer has named it one of the 10 Catholic Churches Designed to Uplift and Inspire.[8] On 21 October 2018, ArchDaily selected So's work among the best 32 chapels previously published on the site.[9]

In March 2018, an international jury had chosen So's anonymous entry entitled An Echo in Time as the winner of the EU-backed international competition for a proposal of the first ever pan-European memorial for all victims of the 20th century totalitarianism, to be built in Jean Rey Square in Brussels, Belgium. The jury included, among others, Norman Foster, Julie Beckman, László Tőkés and Tibor Navracsics. The competition was organized by the Platform of European Memory and Conscience.[10]

In August 2018, the Belarusian state television reported that Tszwai So had been working with the Foundation for Jewish Heritage in the UK, and Natasha Kaplinsky's family, on a $6 million restoration project for the Slonim Synagogue built in the 17th century, in Slonim, Belarus, Kaplinsky's ancestral home.[11][12]

So's drawings stemmed from his prizewinning design of An Echo in Time were chosen as the First Prize Winner in the practitioners’ category from an entry of 1,000 images worldwide in the RIBA Journal International Drawing Competition, the Eye Line Award in 2018.[13][14] His drawings were exhibited at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London from 29 August until 12 September 2018, then at RIBA North in Liverpool til 30 October.[15]