Posts Categorized: Public Commissions

‘Benches’, Katie Walker

We devised the public art strategy and managed the commissions for a series of public seating for the re-developed shopping centres in Leatherhead and St Albans.

We commissioned Katie Walker, a leading Royal College of Art design graduate who responded to the use of both sites with functional sculptural pieces. Guided by her belief that: ‘Timber is our primary natural renewable resource and the most ecologically sound solution is to design with longevity in mind’, Walker designed a new series of oak and steel seating.

The seating is comfortable, robust, easy to clean and maintain. The curved forms subtly evoke the street patterns, while the use of oak reflects the timber framed buildings, some dating back to when St Albans was an important place of pilgrimage and part of England’s pilgrimage network.  Katie Walker’s public seating are contemporary classics which stand the test of time.

We commissioned ‘Benches’ in 2000 and 2002 on behalf of Allied London.

‘Murals 1959′, Stefan Knapp

Working in collaboration with BAA and Richard Rogers Partnership, we re-instated ‘Murals 1959’ for the Terminal 1 Flight Connection Centre at Heathrow Airport in 1996. We managed the whole process including the acquisition, restoration and installation of the murals.

‘Murals 1959’ had originally been commissioned for Heathrow Airport’s first modern terminal building in 1959 when Stefan Knapp was an established international artist with major commissions in the UK, Europe and the USA. Knapp pioneered the technique of large scale painting in enamel on steel panels, enabling him to take an architectural approach to his public centred work.

‘Murals 1959’ was at Heathrow from 1996 until 2017 when the work was decommissioned by Heathrow as part of the preparation for the re-development of Heathrow in anticipation of the third runway.

We re-instated ‘Murals 1959′ as part of the BAA Art Programme in 1996.

‘Spiroglo’, Zoe Chamberlain

We were appointed by developers Lynton to deliver a temporary art commission, in collaboration with the architect Craig Downie of award winning practice Studio Downie.

Following a shortlist of artists, we commissioned recent graduate Zoe Chamberlain to design a temporary light based sculpture within a spectacular double height ground floor office space in Pall Mall, London. The sculpture was wrapped in lightweight technical fabric with fibre optics run along the outside edge of the spiral shape, making it glow at night.

We managed the whole commission process from begining to end, including artist selection, design, fabrication and installation.

‘Spiroglo’ was a temporary commission in 1998 on behalf of Lynton.