Landscape forms
CollectionArtist: Chris Tipping
Location: Level 2, 3 & 4 corridors, Phase II building
Chris Tipping’s designs for the flooring and Formica panels are based on forms in the Wiltshire landscape; local history, industry, architecture and gardens; and on unseen and ephemeral elements in the landscape as viewed from the hospital.
Man-made circles at Avebury and Sarum, crop circles, dew ponds, Fovant Badges, ploughing and field patterns, Downton lace making, Salisbury Cathedral and local architectural detailing, formal gardens, celtic patterns, labyrinths and mazes, the geology of Wiltshire, microscopic investigations of chalk and limestone, local flora and fauna, and fleeting expressions in shadow play have all been represented in the flooring and Formica panels.
Chris commented, “Creating abstract images, which are both emblematic and suggestive of the Wiltshire landscape, the interventions animate and inform the floorscape of the hospital. I have used perspective and scale to represent the images in unfamiliar ways, exploring the relationship between the macro and micro of the surrounding site and landscape within which we all move.”
The flooring interventions have been positioned at major node points such as nurse stations, waiting areas and the window seating areas in the 4-bed bays. The patterns break up the vast flooring areas and help patients and visitors with orientation.
The different levels of the new hospital wing are colour coded to represent the surrounding landscape and make each level distinct from the next. On Levels 1 & 2 the colours used in the floor and on the walls are red, earthy tones representing chalk marls and ploughed and planted foreground; Level 3 uses shades of green reminiscent of farmland and forest, while on Level 4 the colours are blues and purples reflecting the visible skyline.
