Tree of Life Mobile, Aldershot 2010

This commission was a collaboration with Joanna Migdal and Hannah McVicar for the £30m development, the Aldershot Centre for Health: the largest primary health care centre in Britain.

Our aim was to create something which speaks of life, colour, nature, health and vitality. Hundreds of beautiful illustrations by Hannah McVicar of flowers, plants, birds and fruit were screen-printed and baked onto the toughened glass panels.

Sun light passes through the squares and casts patches of coloured light across the floor and the surrounding atrium like a three-dimensional stained glass window.

We thought it was particularly important to ensure the installation would be intriguing from a child’s point of view. We hope that this installation helps children remember this hospital as a positive, beautiful, and colourful place, and somewhere where they look forward to visiting.

This spherical form, positioned centrally in the hexagonal atrium, is the “pearl in the heart of the building”.

Photo credit: Tobias Andrew