Introduction

It is clear that the environment of Dykebar has suffered from years of neglect, chronic under funding and a lack of strategic planning. There is a clear need for an overview and Master Plan to redress this.


Approach to Dykebar from   Entrance to the Acute Unit
bus stop

The environment should provide a key component of the healing process, yet it could be argued that he current situation at Dykebar actually works against this. It is clear that committed and hard working staff are consistently undermined by the poor environment and that this also affects patients and visitors.


Ceiling of one of the day rooms

A recurring theme that emerged during my research within the hospital community was how different things were in the past, leaving me with the clear impression that most of the community not only did not look forward positively but felt that they were part of an ongoing process of deterioration. Even where well intentioned interventions have been made they are sufficiently ill considered so as to render them virtually pointless.



Bench placed at uncomfortable angle with no shelter from prevailing wind direction, adjacent to road with no walkway and more than 50 windows facing back of bench

On a positive note there was widespread support for the idea of any upgrading of the environment and agreement that this would have a positive effect on the hospital community.

The reasons for the poor environmental conditions at Dykebar are complex and it is not my intention to see the current situation in any way other than as a challenge and an opportunity. I have been aware of the importance of these two initial commissions to attempt to engender a wider sense of awareness of the environment across the site and to serve as a catalyst for further improvements.


Choice of Site



It is clear that there is a sense of territory between areas in the hospital – both physically and in terms of staff’s perception of resourcing. The garden outside Ward 5 is a clear example of this where staff not connected to that area resent the spending not being allocated to their area. I was keen to engage with a truly communal area, for the potential benefit of many stakeholders, rather to focus the spending in an identifiable ‘territory’. Similarly, I did not think it appropriate to consider deeply the need to create a ‘stand alone’ work in the hope that the hospital community would seek it out to engage with it, whilst creating an additional area for maintenance. Rather, I thought it important to transform an existing problematic area.

The central location of the corridor to the hospital site is also an important factor in locating the works in an area of high usage to maximise the audience. The need to create maximum impact for the spend on these commissions also led to the idea of working adjacent to Jane’s site, so that the two would be linked. This will hopefully lessen the sense of these works being seen as isolated interventions within an environment in need of so much improvement. The proposed works also have the possibility of expanding outwards in a longer term approach to programming. In particular the day rooms and atrium space could be phased into a further integrated improvement of this central area.



The Artists’ Brief for this commission identifies one of the overall aims of the programme as being to de–institutionalise the experience of being in the hospital. The corridor could not be more institutional than it is at the moment. The corridor is used and seen by a large section of the hospital community regularly. As it is, at the moment, the experience of this space serves as an overwhelming and constant reminder that ‘this is an institution’. It is also a space which is psychologically daunting both in its relentless perspective and constancy of decor.

The large mural in the corridor is of no merit whatsoever. In my research I found only one person who had a positive word for it, against overwhelming feedback that it was not liked and had a negative impact on the environment. I was also made aware that several previous interventions had been patronising to patients in being like children’s nurseries ( for example the wall paintings once in the day rooms ). I feel strongly that this mural patronises its audience in this way. I do not understand why mental illness, or employment within a psychiatric hospital, should preclude someone from engaging with art of a higher calibre than that which would fail a school Standard Grade examination.


Approach

In talking to patients and staff in O.T. there was a strong suggestion that the natural environment was valued as being important and beautiful. Yet observation of patients showed that it was something rarely, if at all, engaged with. The therapeutic benefits of the outdoor environment is hardly being utilised by staff or patients yet it is a primary resource at Dykebar. There is a clear division across the hospital site between the external natural environment and the interior. The conjunction of the courtyard garden and corridor create an opportunity to soften this boundary and reduce the psychological barriers of going outside. In this respect the sheltered and contained nature of the courtyard garden is also important.

My approach has been to remove what is largely institutional about the corridor and to imbue the space with a sense of the natural world. To bring a sense of nature and outdoors into this very public interior space at a point where the courtyard garden can be viewed and accessed. The proposed works are intended to create a psychologically subtle sense of the natural world through colour, light and shadow rather than a direct representation of the natural world. I feel this is important in the context of sustaining meaning for an audience over time. What I am proposing will also, very much, adapt and enhance what is already there rather than attempt to radically change the structure of the space. In this respect the proposal will utilise the existing architecture, integrating the work directly into the building, changing the environment fundamentally

The details of my proposal are outlined later in this document ( Detailed Design ) but the key points are listed below. It is important, however to stress, that these are conceived of to work in an integrated and complimentary way. They are listed as separate elements only for the purpose of description.

Key Points

To change the colouring of the ceiling tiles
To change the colour of the walls
To replace much of the glass
To plant five trees outside the space
To replace the existing floor covering
To introduce two structures to alter the rigid perspective of the space
To introduce timber elements to act as seating
To install two site specific artworks into the architecture


Detailed Design



Ceiling

The ceiling tiles will be individually painted to a design and colouration indicated. The design is based on the sky seen looking up through a canopy of foliage. By using the format of the existing ceiling tiles it is possible to infer this as if in a pixelated computer image. The blue and green colours are intended to be uplifting in inferring a summers day as well as animating an area that encourages the audience to look up. The design will visually break up the vast uniform expanse of the ceiling and will be used to exaggerate existing areas of light and dark in the space. With lighter patches in the design corresponding to the window spaces. The transparent ceiling tiles below the lighting will be replaced with lightly tinted plastic to soften the lighting from above. And the central line of lights will be masked by adapting Chris and Sarah’s remembered drawing sign in a series of suspended panels.


Walls

The ‘institutional’ protective panels will be removed. These are not needed as they are designed to protect the walls when beds are being moved through the corridors which now virtually never happens.

The walls will be painted to a colour scheme which again infers a sense of the landscape. Breaking up the areas into different tones and colours also help dissolve the relentless uniform treatment of the whole space as it stands at the moment. The colour scheme is intended to link and compliment the floor and ceiling designs.




Glass

It is proposed that some of the existing transparent glass will be replaced with opaque white and transparent blue. The corridor has a southerly aspect that allows a lot of natural light to enter through the windows. By making these opaque the strong light will be accentuated whilst blocking out unsatisfactory views. This will also focus the views out of the corridor through the remaining transparent glass onto the courtyard garden. By partially changing the glass between the day rooms and the corridor I intend creating a degree of seclusion for those in the dayrooms, without compromising monitoring by staff of these areas. Similarly I propose replacing the side panel glass at the doors at either end of the corridor to partially seclude the corridor space The higher level windows along the south side of the corridor will be replaced with blue glass which will tint and soften the light entering the corridor.


Tree Planting

In the area outside the floor to ceiling windows on the south side of the corridor ( which will be of opaque glass ) I intend planting five silver birch trees ( Betula pendula ). The shadows from these will be projected onto the opaque glass, animating both the surface and the floor within this area of the space.




Floor

The existing flooring, with its regimented institutional design, will be removed and replaced with new Marmoleum flooring to a specific design. The idea of using two stone–like colours is intended to introduce a natural feel to the space. The design will echo the tonal range of the ceiling, also highlighting existing areas of light and shade in the space.


Two Structures

Two structures will be built into the space, from floor to ceiling, to alter the profile of the corridor. These will be constructed ( to robust specifications ) and installed by Inscape Joinery and made principally from timber and MDF. They are intended to subtly interrupt the straight lines of the corridor by reducing the width on either side in two consecutive areas, creating more of a ‘meander’ to the journey along the corridor. The reduction in width will only be by 500 mm. on either side, leaving a clear centre opening of 2.5 metres, which is greater than the existing width of the doors at either end of the corridor.


Timber Elements

At points along the wall beams of timber will be installed on the floor to fit the specific areas shown on the drawings. They will be 300mm. wide and at 500mm. high are ergonomically at a height to provide informal seating. They will be made from joined sections of Larch heartwood which is a hard wearing solid timber. By using fresh sawn timber these elements will permeate the space with the smell of pine wood for the foreseeable future – masking the ‘institutional’ smells of polish and cabbage that exist at the moment. The timber elements will re–instate the wall protection currently afforded by the panels to be removed.


Two Artworks

The larger of the two structures to be built into the space, on the north side of the corridor where the mural is currently located. It will be designed to hold a site–specific painting which will be a subtle work based on the shadows of foliage on white, in response to its intended location opposite the opaque glazed area. The work will be integrated into the design of the built structure and protected behind safety glass.

A frieze of pale sky blue will be painted onto the wall along a length of the wall on the south side of the corridor. This will visually integrate with the blue glass at the upper level of this wall. Regularly, along the length of this blue area, will be a series of ten small white framed photographic works of cloud–scapes. These visually quiet works are intended to punctuate the space with small points of a contemplative nature to contrast with the expansiveness of the corridor.