Bright Ideas - Draft Designs for Medium Secure Services

In November 2004, the six artists working on commissions for the new medium secure services came together to present their draft designs. These draft designs had been developed over several months, during which time the artists had visited Fromeside clinic to consult with staff and service users to help in developing their ideas.

Calming, warm colours for the new multi-faith room

Draft Designs for Multi-faith room

Sue's designs focus on creating a decorative internal window and a series of textile wall works to introduce colour into the space. They have been shaped through consultation to reflect a desire for comfort and softness, flowing colours around the room, a calm simplicity yet with warmth and the effects of candlelight. Themes generated through consultation were those of water, moonstone colours, the effect of light and breezes on water, iridescence, contrasts found in nature and splashes of warm colours.

The designs successfully reflect these themes and are based on a palette of yellows, oranges and golds, evocative of candlelight to bring warmth into the north facing room, balanced by soothing, watery blues. The textiles, which will be housed in shallow acrylic box frames, have simple abstract shapes and layers of different colours to create pools of colour in the space.

Sue will also be working with the interior designers and contractors on the colour schemes, lighting and flooring for the room. Her final designs will be presented in February 2005.

If you have any comments on Sue's designs, please go to Contact and send us an e-mail.

'Tree of light' and reflective flying figures

Draft Designs for Courtyard Sculptures

Kate has created designs for sculptures for 2 of the internal viewing courtyards. Her idea for courtyard 7 is called 'Flight'.

'Flight' is a flock of highly reflective stainless steel figures mounted on stainless steel poles 'flying' down into the courtyard and up and out the other side like birds. It has a sense of energy, positivity and freedom. The mirrored stainless steel will draw down the light from above, bouncing it around the courtyard, and reflect the constantly changing weather and sky. The poles will be thin enough to allow the figures to move slightly in the wind, making the shadows and reflections shimmer.

The shapes for the figures will be taken from shadows of real figures stretching, which will then be laser cut from 3mm thick stainless steel sheet and polished to a super mirror finish. They will then be bolted to the tops of 15mm stainless steel rods of varying heights. Kate envisages the planting to follow the swathe of the figures and contain as much colour as possible. This would then be reflected in the mirrored figures.

Kate's idea for courtyard 5 is 'Tree of Light'. This is a bright, shimmering tree made of stainless steel 'knitted' wire or wire rope forming its trunk and branches, with leaves of coloured glass and mirror which will draw the light down from the sky and bounce it in reflected spots and coloured patches throughout the courtyard and into the overlooking rooms. The tree will change dramatically according to the weather and light, and should shimmer gently on a windy day.

The trunk will be made from 6mm stainless steel wire rope woven around a conical welded stainless steel framework. In some places this weave will be quite open and lacy, and in others it will create textures with a tighter weave. The stainless steel will catch and reflect light. A network of branches, also of steel, extends from the trunk to span the courtyard.

The leaves are 20 - 25 cm long and will be made in glass and mirror. The glass leaves will be cast in recycled glass from old bottles, using a range of greens. A stainless steel 'spine' and stalk will be set into this as it melts in the kiln to enable the leaves to be welded or woven onto the branches. The mirrored leaves will be cut from mirrored glass or polished stainless steel.

Kate envisages the planting in this courtyard to be simple and low. Some mirrored leaves could also be set into the ground to reflect the canopy of branches and leaves and the sky above.

Kate will be finalising her designs in February 2005.

If you have any comments on Kate's designs, please go to Contact and send us an e-mail.

Cascading water and colourful lighting for café courtyard

Draft Designs for Water Feature & Decorative Surfaces Sculpture

Kay and Jeremy have been working together to produce designs for a water feature and 2-dimensional sculptures enhanced with integral lighting for 3 of the internal viewing courtyards.

Courtyard 2

This courtyard is overlooked by the café area, and includes a water feature, enhanced with integral lighting as well as some extra lighting pieces, situated around the garden.

Water Feature

This design stands about 1 metre tall and allows water to flow continually, cascading down it in 2 stages into a large bowl at its base. The surface of the fountain is animated with relief shapes in the form of vertical ripples and hemispheres. The colour scheme for the water feature is a range of watery blue glazes. Within the fabric of the bowl, and at its rim, are small LEDs which will illuminate the surface colours and shapes on the bowl from under the water as well as bring out the rippling effects of the water. LEDs will also be fitted into crevices on the main body of the fountain to throw light onto the surface and, once triggered by a time switch, will illuminate the piece after dark.

Combining both rich surface textures, soothing colours, lights and flowing water, this water feature will introduce a vibrant focus to the café area both by day and night.

The water feature will be a concrete structure faced with ceramic sections, sitting on a raised pedestal, which will contain the water reservoir, on a paved area. Service users will be involved in making the relief hemispheres and other pieces from simple plaster press moulds.

Lighting columns

Jeremy Lord has designed a series of light columns, made of cast acrylic polycarbonate, to be dotted around the courtyard amongst the planting to animate the space. The columns contain slowly changing coloured light and will be of various heights. The colour changes are influenced by environmental factors, which may include sound levels in the café and movement in the outdoor area opposite and could also be influenced by a palettes related to the seasons.

If you have any comments on Kay and Jeremy's designs, please go to Contact and send us an e-mail.

Courtyard 3

This small space is opposite the café courtyard and the scheme is to decorate one wall with a series of 5 rectangular ceramic relief pieces, approximately 2 m high and 70 cm wide. The pieces have the same colours, wavy lines and hemispheres as the water feature and visually link the 2 spaces. Within each piece there are cavities housing LEDs so that they will take on a different aspect at night. These lights will be less bright than the waterproof LEDs in the fountain and will be coloured blue and white. As the lights are slightly hidden within the cavity spaces, they will create a feeling of energy radiating outwards. The panels will also be illuminated by low intensity lights from the sides to enhance the different profiles and surface textures without overpowering the more subtle internal lights.

If you have any comments on Kay and Jeremy's designs, please go to Contact and send us an e-mail.

Courtyard 6

This courtyard is a small courtyard overlooked by the Women's Service corridor. The design here will be for a series of panels similar to courtyard 3 with the design worked around the whole space in a continual band so that it can be seen from all sides. The panels will also have lighting incorporated into them so that the area is bright at all times.

Kay and Jeremy are currently working on ideas for designs for this courtyard and they will be available for viewing here in February 2005.

Innovative outdoor seating

Garden Seating

Marion put forward two innovative ideas for seating:

One idea was for seats made of a combination of reconstituted stone and terracotta components that can be arranged in different formations to create different types of seating. The components consist a long wave piece made of reconstituted stone which can be used horizontally or vertically and a smaller, rounded, terracotta piece which can be used to form a 'leg' of the seat or a seat in its own right. The components can then be arranged to create seating good for sitting, lying or taking shelter in. The terracotta piece would be coloured with a palette of bright and pastel glazes. Ceramic insets with slightly roughened areas could be worked into the components for stubbing out cigarettes. Even when these seats are not in use, they have a beautiful, sculptural and tactile quality to them.

The second idea was for seats which have an element of moveability in them, made of a combination of strong metal poles and springs linking terracotta or stone sections.

Marion led 2 workshops with service users to develop both these designs. In one workshop people made small models of what seating they would like. This showed a desire for seating that could function both as a private or sociable space and demonstrated that people use benches in different ways - to sit on, take shelter or rest on at different heights. Decorative tiles were made at the second workshop which produced ideas for the elements of decoration.

Marion will be finalising her designs in February 2005.

If you have any comments on Marion's designs, please go to Contact and send us an e-mail.

 

If you have any comments please go to Contact and send us an e-mail.