When artist Jim Buckley was commissioned to create a piece of public art for the new Royal Children’s Hospital in Aberdeen, he was faced with the challenge of crafting something that would appeal not only to the young patients, but to visiting families. Buckley settled on an object known to fascinate everyone, from children through to the most serious of adults, with its mesmerising undulating spirals – the Slinky.
Using the toy as a starting point, the resulting design is an 18-metre stainless steel spiral sculpture incorporating fibre optic light, which will be placed in one of the courtyards at the new hospital.
‘I was just trying to imagine kids stuck in hospital, particularly overnight without their parents, to give them something interesting to look at,’ Buckley explains. ‘That’s why I wanted the piece to reach the full height of the building, so that it isn’t something you just see when you are standing at the window. I was trying to imagine kids in their beds, looking out the window and being able to see this constant movement of light,’ he said.
The new hospital, which is set to open in December and replaces an existing building dating back to 1929, is one of a number of children’s hospitals springing up in the UK (Bristol, Belfast and Derby) and abroad, which acknowledge the role art can play in the well-being of patients and their families.
Project Development Manager Jackie Simpson, of the Grampian University Hospitals Trust, explains it was this philosophy which has underpinned the integration of artworks into the new Aberdeen building, from the initial research and planning stages.
‘It’s really well recognised now that children feel much better in an environment which is more family-oriented and acknowledges the role of parents and siblings in the recovery phase,’ Simpson asserts. ‘And, in addition to that, the more therapeutic the environment is – if it is pleasant, non-threatening and stimulating – these can all act as things that make the place feel nicer, promote a feeling of well-being, and act as a distraction from what might otherwise be painful or distressful activities which the child and the family might have to participate in.’
But don’t expect to see walls adorned with Disney characters. After looking at similar children’s hospital models on the east coast of North America, and conducting extensive research with children in Scotland, Simpson explains the new building will integrate artworks right into the fabric of the building. The feedback from research sessions with children, involving 5 to 16 year-olds across a range of socio-economic backgrounds, suggested they wanted a stimulting, vibrant and interesting environment, which need not hinge off cartoon characters. And further, that the parents rather than the children were more often than not the ones who needed distracting.
‘So that work took us to the next level,’ Simpson continues. ‘We kind of knew what we were looking to do was to find a way of introducing art in the broader sense of the word, to create an environment that accommodated both the child population and their families.’
With the help of more than £300,000 from the Scottish Arts Council to realise the project, ten artists have been commissioned to collaborate with architects Mackie Ramsay Taylor, arts projects managers, public arts consultancy PACE, the Grampian Hospital Arts Trust and the Grampian University Hospital Arts Trust and hospital staff to design the new facility – the first of its kind, of this scale and magnitude – in Scotland.
In addition to Jim Buckley’s giant fibre-optic Slinky, other artists and designers commissioned include Habitat furniture designer Matthew Hilton, who is designing seating for the five main waiting areas; and Matthew Dalziel and Louise Scullion, public artists working on a ‘garden’ of stylised imaginary trees that are Scottish in identity.
The roof of one of the courtyards is being designed by Lucy Casson, who creates quirky pieces using metal; while Lucy Richards, winner of the Scottish Design Awards for Best Publication, is collaborating with architects on the building’s interior and signage.
Mixed-media artist Michael Brennan-Wood will create kinetic artworks for the main waiting areas, while Jane Watt will illuminate the main circulation routes around the hospital with artworks exploring the use of light and optical illusion.
But Jim Buckley, who recently won a Creative Scotland Award, just hopes his Slinky design will continue to appeal to people decades down the track. ‘It’s a major piece that’s going to be there for a long time,’ he says, admitting he’s a little nervous about the work’s permanence. ‘But I’ve spoken to people from different generations,’ he muses, ‘and they do relate to the Slinky toy, so that does give it some longevity,’ he says, sounding slighty less worried.
