Guy's Hospital recently opened a new Kidney Treatment Centre in Long Lane, London. The unit occupies the ground floor of a new building, the facade of which is fully glazed. I was commissioned to develop a scheme to modify the visibility through this glazing and improve the visual amenity of the hospital environment. 

I had to create artwork for 68 glazed panels, each of which measured 2.5m wide by 3.5m high, and install it quickly before the unit opened. I decided to make the artwork digitally and to have it printed onto an applied vinyl with a frosted finish. We got Modulex, an international sign manufacturer based in Denmark, involved at an early stage and they provided invaluable advice and assistance with testing samples while I was developing the designs.

There were some interesting technical challenges too. The artwork, essentially translucent colours like stained glass in a church, had to look good when seen from inside the unit during the day, and when seen from outside at night with the lights on. I also had to be careful not to modify too much the overall colour of the light entering the treatment areas as skin colour is an important diagnostic indicator in a dialysis unit.

After consultation with patients and staff I developed a scheme based on the sky, deployed in an undulating strip which occupied only the upper zone of the panels, leaving the lower sections in a plain frosted finish. The scheme went went right round the building -120 linear metres of public art. Day and night, clouds, rain, snow, birds of various kinds, aeroplanes and balloons come and go, and help keep things interesting.

Interior daytime view of the artwork in one of the main treatment rooms