Category Archives: Healthcare Projects

Covers all projects which involve healthcare and well-being, such as Private and NHS Hospitals, Mental Health Centres and related forms of care in the community.

Team Proto

Our work with David & Richard at Proto Studios in Pewsey, Wiltshire has now come to an end.

Sadly, this week saw our final visit to Proto Glass Studios to see the completed glazing sealed units before they leave to be installed in the new RNHRD and Therapies Centre at the Royal United Hospital in Bath. The new unit is being delivered by Kier Group with IBI Group Architects. This artwork production of 46sqm of beautifully decorated and finished, screen-printed, sandblasted & etched artwork manufactured by Proto Studios, which will enhance the architectural curtain wall glass screens for the new Hydrotherapy Pool within the Therapies Unit was commissioned by Art at the Heart. A massive thank you to David & Richard Proto and all the glass technicians at Proto Studios who had a highly skilled hand in delivering this work. It has been a really rewarding collaboration.

The panels are due to be installed in the next few weeks. Fingers crossed for a hassle free installation…watch this space!

 

Composite mirror image: Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Composite Mirror Image 7: Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Above: Safe in skilled hands…glass technicians carefully present each of the 18 double glazed sealed units for us to see.

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Composite mirror image 6: Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Final review of all finished & sealed glazed units at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

 

The Robert White Centre, Dorset Cancer Centre

My digitally printed artworks for the new Robert White Centre were partially installed in December 2018, just prior to the official opening of the building on December 12th. The first floor glazing has now  been completed in the Cancer & Haematology Outpatients Department on the first floor. This is the Haematology Outpatients department and the services are delivered by Dorset County Hospital. The artwork for the ground floor Radiotherapy Cancer Unit is now in progress. Services here are being delivered by Poole Hospital. The new Cancer Centre is an extension of the Poole Hospital-based Dorset Cancer Centre.

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Adrian Holbrook

 

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Alex Murdin

 

“The £9 million centre is an extension of the Poole Hospital-based Dorset Cancer Centre. The Dorchester unit is equipped with the latest linear accelerator (LINAC) which enables patients to receive the best-possible radiotherapy treatment. This means that cancer patients in the north, south and west of the county can receive this care in their local hospital, instead of having to travel to Poole for treatment.

The facility also includes a £1.75 million Cancer and Haematology Outpatients Department funded by the Cancer Appeal run by Dorset County Hospital Charity. This was supported by hundreds of donations from individuals, community groups as well as Trusts and Foundations.

This building has been funded in part by an extraordinarily generous legacy from Poole businessman Robert White. Robert White was treated for cancer at the Dorset Cancer Centre, part of Poole Hospital, and sadly lost his battle in November 2015. Before his death, he had resolved to support the hospital and its county-wide cancer services to benefit others and decided that he would fund a new cancer unit, now named The Robert White Centre.

Martin Clunes said: “It was my privilege to be able to officially open the new Robert White Centre.

“The incredibly generous support from the community for the DCH Cancer Appeal, as well as Robert’s generosity, leaves a remarkable legacy for patients with cancer in Dorset.” Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 2018

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Alex Murdin

 

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Alex Murdin

 

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Adrian Holbrook

 

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Alex Murdin

 

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Alex Murdin

 

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Alex Murdin

 

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Adrian Holbrook

 

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Adrian Holbrook

 

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Adrian Holbrook

 

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Adrian Holbrook

 

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Adrian Holbrook

 

The Robert White Centre, Dorset County Hospital. Artwork Image: Christopher Tipping. Photographer: Adrian Holbrook

 

 

Hydrotherapy Pool Architectural Glazing

Working with David and Richard at Proto Glass Studios is always a delight. What they do is exemplary and they work hard to collaborate in achieving the very best outcome for the artwork and the artist.

My visit to their workshops near Pewsey in Wiltshire on Thursday last week was a catch up on progress after Christmas. I had made a visit previously to this before Christmas along with clients from ‘Art at the Heart’ at the RUH, which has still not been posted.

All the glass panels have now been printed & etched. They were then sent away for toughening – a heat process, where the glass is tempered in a furnace to temperatures close to 600 degrees C and then cooled rapidly. Following this process, the glass can be sandblasted with additional layers of detail. Once completed, the panels will finally be made into sealed units for delivery to site and installation.

Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

The architectural glass screens total some 46sqm of glazing. However, the screens are made up of double sealed units – two panels of glass with a gap in-between. This has allowed us to apply decoration to both panes of glass within the same sealed unit. The panel above, for example is 2500mm x 1217mm x 10.8mm. This is the largest size. There are 18 apertures in the North and East screens combined – larger spaces below and smaller spaces above with a double sealed unit in each – so a total of 36 individual panels of glass have been decorated. 18 of this total have also been laminated to another clear pane of glass. Proto have prepared and decorated all of this glass. They have handled of these elements with great skill and care.

 

Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

Weeding out the stencils following sandblasting.

 

Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

Weeding-out stencils, cleaning and brushing away, following sandblasting of the ceramic colour screenprint.

 

Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping
Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Production at Proto Studios. Image: Christopher Tipping

Precious Objects

Draft Artwork & Motifs for Glazing Vinyl Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

Some years ago a long standing family friend  and close friend of my Dad was being treated for cancer. He and his wife had often been to Elgol on the shores of Lock Skavaig on the Isle of Skye. They loved this place. I too had been there and as is the case – and now slightly frowned upon – I picked up some stones from a stream bed. The stones were small, but smooth & beautifully polished to a honed satin finish by the action of water. They could be held in the hand and moved around. The feeling of them was somehow special and resonant. I still have them now, wrapped in a cloth bag for fear of damaging them. I sent one of these stones to Dad’s friend. In doing that I think we had a non verbal conversation at distance about place and memories. I like to think it was re-assuring for both of us.

I have always picked up stones. They represent something unique about place, time and experience. Geology is fascinating.

I live by the sea in Ramsgate on the Kent Coast. I walk on the beach most days. I have found many sea urchin fossils. Each has a unique story. Each stone can still trigger memories of where and when it was found, what the weather was like…was the tide in or out.

I have created work for several projects with Cancer treatment centres at a number of Hospitals, including Churchill Hospital Cancer Centre, Oxford and a Macmillan Cancer unit for Tameside General Hospital. At Tameside Hospital and found my inspiration on a 12 mile walk entitled “Journeys through the Landscapes of Tameside” – this walk eventually became the brief for the project.

Stewart Ramsden, my walking partner who compiled the walk, had also been a cancer patient at the hospital and was part of our project’s champion group. Our route was eventually described by an eccentric figure of eight. Wild Bank and Hollingworthall Moor from Godley – a 12 mile walk through town, suburb, farmland and moorland.

The following words were made from my notes on the day:

This is a walk

A meander, a physical experience or just maybe a day-dream

A walk is more often along a path

The path or footpath changes in colour, texture and topography –

but there is always a remembered route to follow or a map to guide you

or maybe a venture to somewhere new

There is a constancy in moving forward

Things seen on a walk are half experienced and half remembered

A vivid green hedge

A tyre track

A discarded toy

A cloud which looks like a tree, a stream which looks like silver, a flash of colour

Horizon merges with sky

This is a landscape with no fixed perspective

Sky reflected in water

A small stone becomes a boulder

An object picked up and carried in the hand along the way

Track marks in fields are gestural and dynamic

Distant buildings become a child’s building blocks

 The layersPatterns in brickwork

 

Our project for the new Radiotherapy Unit at Dorset Hospital was similarly inspired by a walk along the Jurassic Coast I made ten years ago. I was hoping to find myself an ammonite to take home. I didn’t find any, but I saw many encased in rock by the shore. I saw the Blue Lias beds that contain giant plesiosaur fossils. The layers are like drawers in time. Each opening to another world and perhaps another wonder. I was also allowed free time to spend in the Dorset Museum Archives amongst boxes and drawers and piles of specimen stones and fossils. The way these objects were carefully curated and stored – often in intricate patterns and collections of similar sizes and or type. was inspiring and reminded me of my collections at home and of how precious they are to me.  The artwork has grown out of this fascination. The stones I have created are imaginary in colour and pattern, although informed by nature. They are perhaps stones I would like to find. Stones I would hold in my imagination to remind me of journeys I have made and places I have been.

We have now had the approval and sign off on the artwork proposals following a recent meeting with key Staff and stakeholders this week. The deadline is looming. The new building opens on 12th December. The work has to be manufactured and installed before this date.

Draft Artworks for Glazing Vinyl Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

To create the digital work each element requires up to 3 copies of each shape. One blank, one black & white and one in colour. The black & white originals are a mix of hand drawn motifs and textures, which are then scanned and worked on in Photoshop. I create a series of related shapes and masks, which I can then combine with larger patterns, often in repeat.Colours are added at this stage. I will often scan objects such as found paper or leaves and work on them digitally. I take too many images in the street, of shapes of water on the pavement – or reflections in windows – or a small plant growing in a crack in the ground or on a wall. All these can trigger an idea for a pattern or story.

Draft Artwork & Motifs for Glazing Vinyl Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

First Floor Reception Artwork for Glazing Vinyl Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Golden yellow Ginkgo sapling motif for Glazing Vinyl Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

First Floor Non Clinical Staff Room. Artwork for Glazing Vinyl Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Agate Stone colour motif for Glazing Vinyl Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Draft Artwork & Motifs for Glazing Vinyl Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Window 101 Artwork for Glazing Vinyl at Dorset County Hospital new Radiotherapy Unit. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Window 102 Artwork for Glazing Vinyl at Dorset County Hospital new Radiotherapy Unit. Image: Christopher Tipping
Draft Artwork & Motifs for Glazing Vinyl Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Draft Artwork & Motifs for Glazing Vinyl Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

 

Window 103 Artwork for Glazing Vinyl at Dorset County Hospital new Radiotherapy Unit. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Window 104 Artwork for Glazing Vinyl at Dorset County Hospital new Radiotherapy Unit. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Draft Artwork & Motifs for Glazing Vinyl Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Draft Artwork & Motifs for Glazing Vinyl Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Window 105 Artwork for Glazing Vinyl at Dorset County Hospital new Radiotherapy Unit. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

Window 106 Artwork for Glazing Vinyl at Dorset County Hospital new Radiotherapy Unit. Image: Christopher Tipping
Autumnal sapling tree motif for Glazing Vinyl Dorset County Hospital. Image: Christopher Tipping

RUH Hydrotherapy Pool Artwork – What am I doing?

Drawing drafts for moving water and gestural motifs developing patterns from research at the RNHRD and RUH Hydrotherapy Units. Artist: Christopher Tipping

There are many threads of research and interest which have influenced the development and visual narrative of the artwork. The following notes and lists are from my own notebooks, where I  made records of research sessions and information which struck me as inspirational. 

The Mineral Water Hospital, affectionately known as The Min, was built in 1742 & overlooked open, ‘quiet fields’ and countryside. The Hospital was constructed on the site of Bath’s first Theatre of 1705, by the Architect George Trim, whose Mother was, apparently the sister of the Kings Architect, Inigo Jones. The theatre was demolished 1738.

This theatrical & dramatic connection has influenced the concept of using the glazed Hydrotherapy screens as inspirational painted backdrops – a way of creatively setting the scene within the new space & enhancing the experience of staff and patients using the Pool.

In 1859, with great ceremony, the foundation stone was laid for a new hospital building adjacent to the original site and built upon the grounds of a ‘large formal garden belonging to the Parsonage of St Peter Paul Parish’. This garden is shown on the John Speed map of 1610.

The new Royal United Hospital was built in open fields at Combe Park in 1932 (having moved from central Bath). Combe Park had formerly been the site of the Bath War Hospital built in 1916 to provide beds and medical services for WW1 Casualties. There was a small pond and a stream ran nearby. Patients and staff were encouraged to grow and maintain flower gardens & were rewarded with prizes.

Aerial view of the RUH sitting amidst green fields circa 1932 having moved to this site at Weston Manor from the centre of Bath. Image by kind permission of Bath in Time and Bath War Hospital at the RUH.

In the Building Report on The Mineral Water Hospital, by The House Historians, March 2006, there is a detailed report on The Chapel, (now the home of Bath Medical Museum)and its architectural decorations.

This mentions a number of plants seen in carvings, stained glass and other architectural details, which are wonderfully useful in referencing the legacy of The Min, when it finally closes its doors to move to the RUH site:

Ivy

Oak

Water Buttercup

Wild Poppy

Fig

Vines

White Lilies

Passion Flower

Pomegranate

Hyssop

 

Colour and pattern used within the stained glass is also influential. Patterns are influenced by the architectural decoration and tiling of The Min Chapel.

Various hydrotherapy treatments, methods and equipment as described as being newly installed in 1915 following extensive alterations, are also very evocative and inspire some abstract interpretation within my creative narrative.

 

Deep Baths

Aix and Vichy Douches

Scotch and Needle Douches

Reclining and Vapour Baths

Radiant Heat Baths

Sulpher Baths of Potassium Sulphide

Mineral Water Baths

Whirlpool Bath

Hubbard Tank to treat the entire body simultaneously

 

‘A Vichy Massage required the patient to stand on a rubber covered slab whilst showered with jets of hot mineral water. The needle bath was a circular shower with an array of horizontal pipes which sprayed fine jets of water’.

Descriptions of the Coat of Arms for the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases – to give The Min its formal & proper title, is a useful source of colour references, decorative motifs, plants, animals and their meaning.

Black

White for truth, sincerity, peace, innocence and purity

Green

Blue

Purple

Circlet of Fountains

Foxglove

Hares

Meadow Saffron

I like the colour of evening sky, that particular shade of indigo blue.

Water is by turns fluid and abstract, vaporous & ephemeral, contained within many shapes – rivers, ponds, streams, pools, baths, glasses & oceans – any number of vessels.

My creative approach is making connections between place & historic legacy, hydrotherapy practice and an imaginary landscape, which may be conjured up whilst being treated in the pool & feeling the benefits of floating & exercising, whilst being supported by warm water and the care and assistance and encouragement of staff.

‘This hospital was to be entirely self-funded, and even before the hospital was built the raising of monies for it began in earnest. Bath’s Master of Ceremonies, Richard Beau Nash arranged balls and collected subscriptions; wills, donations and even bequests of a diamond, and 1,000 oranges, contributed to the coffers. The list of donors reads like a Who’s Who of 18th century Bath society. Those who donated £40 or more were invited to become a hospital governor, including the artist William Hoare and the actor David Garrick’.

https://thebathmagazine.co.uk/finding-the-cure/

 

 

Map on framed canvas. Mrs. Oliver inscribed on reverse. Showing location of Weston Manor prior to incorporation into Royal United Hospital. Image: By kind permission Bath War Hospital at the RUH

This Estate Map above – date unknown – shows the private estate of Weston Manor before the RUH incorporated it into its site in the 20th Century.

‘The hospital moved to its present site, Combe Park, on 11 December 1932. The site had previously been used for the large First World War Bath War Hospital which opened in 1916. In November 1919 it was renamed the Bath Ministry of Pensions Hospital, which it remained until it closed in 1929.

The site was also used by the Forbes Fraser Hospital and the Bath and Wessex Orthopaedic Hospital, both founded in 1924 and which merged into the RUH about 1980. The former manor house on the site, originally medieval but remodelled in the 18th century, became an administrative building. The building is a Grade II* listed building due to its fine Adam style interior’. Wikipedia

Image: Early Draft artwork for North & East Screens. March 2018 RUH HYDROTHERAPY. Artist: Christopher Tipping
Draft Artworks: Interior detailing explored for the Hydrotherapy Pool – new Therapies Unit, RUH, Bath. Artist: Christopher Tipping
Draft Artworks: Interior detailing explored for the Hydrotherapy Pool – new Therapies Unit, RUH, Bath. Artist: Christopher Tipping
Draft Artworks: Interior detailing explored for the North Screen of the Hydrotherapy Pool – new Therapies Unit, RUH, Bath. Artist: Christopher Tipping
Draft Artworks: Interior detailing explored for the East Screen of the Hydrotherapy Pool – new Therapies Unit, RUH, Bath. Artist: Christopher Tipping
Research Images from the RNHRD, The Min Chapel. Artist: Christopher Tipping
Research Images from the RNHRD, The Min Chapel. Artist: Christopher Tipping
Research Images from the RNHRD, Roman Mosaic from the basement excavations of The Min Artist: Christopher Tipping
Research Images developing patterns from research at the RNHRD, including The Min Chapel. Artist: Christopher Tipping
Research Images developing patterns from research at the RNHRD, including The Min Chapel. Artist: Christopher Tipping
Research Images developing patterns from research at the RNHRD, including The Min Chapel. Artist: Christopher Tipping
Research Images developing patterns from research at the RNHRD, including The Min Chapel. Artist: Christopher Tipping
Research Images developing patterns from research at the RNHRD, including The Min Chapel. Artist: Christopher Tipping



 

Rogallo Place & production visit to VGL

VGL Art Room, Reading. Approving Production Files. Image: Christopher Tipping

As with most of my projects I rely on creative collaboration and engagement with specialist suppliers and manufacturers. VGL are one of the best I have worked with. Their digital printing facilities are excellent, but it their outstanding collaborative skills which enable me to create work like this. The following images are from a factory visit in July 2018 to review sample production and the creation and sign off of the digital production files.

VGL Digital Print Sampling. Image: Christopher Tipping
VGL Digital Print Sampling. Image: Christopher Tipping
VGL Digital Print Sampling. Image: Christopher Tipping
VGL Digital Print Sampling. Image: Christopher Tipping
VGL Digital Print Sampling. Image: Christopher Tipping
VGL Digital Print Sampling. Image: Christopher Tipping
VGL Digital Print Sampling. Image: Christopher Tipping
VGL Digital Print Sampling. Image: Christopher Tipping
VGL Digital Print Sampling. Rogallo Place. Image: Christopher Tipping
VGL Digital Print Sampling. Rogallo Place. Image: Christopher Tipping
VGL Print Room Samples for Rogallo Place. Image: Christopher Tipping
VGL Digital Print Sampling. Rogallo Place. Image: Christopher Tipping
VGL Print Room Samples for Rogallo Place. Image: Christopher Tipping
VGL Print Room Samples for Rogallo Place. Image: Christopher Tipping

Hydrotherapy Pool, Royal United Hospital, Bath – new Therapies Centre

Draft Artwork: Interior with architectural glazed screens – Christopher Tipping
External draft artwork detail of the Hydrotherapy Pool. Image: Christopher Tipping

I was commissioned by Art at the Heart of the RUH in December 2017 to create artwork in response to the architectural glazing in the Hydrotherapy Pool room at the new Therapies Centre for the Royal United Hospital, Bath. These architectural glass panels are floor to ceiling glazed apertures with a combined 46.40 sq m of glass. I am working in collaboration with PROTO GLASS STUDIOS, Architectural Glass Decorators.

The project is being delivered by Kier Construction Ltd with Architects IBI Group

We have also been engaged with a large group of stakeholders, including staff and service users, some of whom have been are lifelong patients at the RNHRD & RUH. This is an ongoing process and we are taking everyone on the journey with us.

‘FLOW’

“Flow is active. It is not just the water, but it is the way our muscles are warmed and released, allowing blood to flow more freely. It is the freedom from stiffness of joints, when even a centimetre gained is a big triumph. It is active horizontally and not vertically. My spine is fully arthrosed and I cannot turn my head. This is a fundamental problem for AS patients and one of the big exercises in the pool and the gym is trying to turn and look over your shoulder without moving your body. That is flow. It is horizontal”. George Odam RNHRD Lifelong Patient with Ankylosing spondylitis (AS), speaking about his personal journey and experience of hydrotherapy treatment in 2017.

The Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases (RNHRD) and The Brownsword Therapies Centre (BTC)

The new RNHRD and BTC will be built close to the main entrance of the Royal United Hospital or RUH; it will be an outpatient centre providing treatment, care and education for patients to recover from episodes of illness or injury, or to manage their long-term condition. The new building will house many of the services currently located at the RNHRD (also known as The Mineral Hospital/ The Min) and the existing RUH therapies and pain management services located in RUH North, under one roof. The Centre will create a centralised and integrated space for staff to work collaboratively, delivering a holistic and patient-centred approach to care.

Old Hydrotherapy Pool, RUH Bath. Image: Christopher Tipping
Hydrotherapy Pool at The Royal Mineral Water Hospital, RNHRD, Bath, 2018. Image:Christopher Tipping
Rubber Ducks at the Hydrotherapy Pool at The Royal Mineral Water Hospital, RNHRD, Bath, 2018. Image: Christopher Tipping
Objects at the Hydrotherapy Pool at The Royal Mineral Water Hospital, RNHRD, Bath, 2018. Image: Christopher Tipping
Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, Bath. Image: Christopher Tipping
Pediment of the Royal Mineral Water Hospital, Bath, aka The Min 2018. Image: Christopher Tipping

The Min, as the RNHRD is affectionately known, has a small Medical Museum situated in the Old Chapel.  It is a fascinating collection and curated and managed by a small group of dedicated and enthusiastic people, who allowed me access to the photographic Archives. This was very much appreciated.

‘In 2012 the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases [The Mineral Hospital] opened a small museum to showcase their collection. Now, with the imminent closure of the hospital in the centre of Bath, our museum has been granted custody of the Collection of the Min, which includes records dating back to the 1740s, artefacts, the paintings and other pieces of art from around the Hospital, memorabilia, and photographs relating to rheumatology, medicine and pharmacy’

A Hubbard Tank was used for entire body treatments in Hydrotherapy. Image: Copyright & by kind permission of Bath Medical Museum, RNHRD
Patient taking a Nauheim effervescent bath, date unknown – Image: Copyright & by kind permission of Bath Medical Museum, RNHRD
Vichy spray massage treatment. Date unknown – Image: Copyright & by kind permission of Bath Medical Museum, RNHRD
Brass identity medallions worn by patients in the 18th Century. Image: Copyright & by kind permission of Bath Medical Museum, RNHRD

 

 

Dorset County Hospital – the new Cancer Unit Glazing Artwork

Image: Draft artwork with re-imagined stones by Christopher Tipping 2018

I have been commissioned to create artwork to be digitally printed onto optically clear vinyl for the external glazing of the new Cancer Unit at Dorset County Hospital. Dorset’s pioneering new cancer unit is under construction and is due to be delivered in 2018. It is being built and operated jointly by Poole and Dorset HospitalsMy approach has been framed by a research trip I made back in June 2008 to the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site and to Dorchester Museums Archive Collections and the Natural History Museum in London.

Image: Christopher Tipping- Jurassic Coast Dorset 2008
Image: Christopher Tipping- Display Box of Microfossils, Dorset County Museum 2008
Image: Found objects and natural abstractions for Dorset County Hospital Cancer Unit by Christopher Tipping

Ten years ago I created artwork for wayfinding and inlaid bespoke floor coverings for the corridors of the main hospital buildings and also for Maiden Castle House, which provides Psychiatric Services for the Trust. This original body of work, completed in 2010 was considered a resonant starting point for this new project in 2018 and has been instrumental in underpinning the artwork created for the Cancer Unit.

Alex Coulter, former Arts Manager, Arts in Hospital writing in 2008 said –

‘The artist, Chris Tipping, researched and recorded geological structures, fossils and land forms along the Jurassic coast as the basis for his designs. He made drawings on the coast and in Dorset County Museum’s collections and talked to geologists based at Southampton University to help inform his ideas.  Chris was interested in the idea that the floors in the hospital could be interpreted as the layers or strata of the coast with fossil like patterns embedded in them and fragments and elements emerging where different layers meet. They are inlaid into the floor at key areas such as lift thresholds and at the top of staircases to help with wayfinding while smaller elements break up long expanses of corridor. It was Chris’s idea to curve the edges of the flooring and to reveal sections of designs rather as you might see a fragment in the cliff. The technology used is sophisticated with laser cutting creating elements which fit together with no need for sealant in-between. His designs enliven what would otherwise be vast expanses of plain flooring and contribute to making the hospital environment more stimulating and appealing for patients – a healing environment’.

 

The following text was taken from the 2018 project brief by Alex Murdin, Arts Manager, Arts in Hospital, at Dorset County Hospital.

‘Initial consultation with patients and staff suggested that the theme of the Cancer Unit artworks should evolve around nature and light, “Letting in the Light”. Medical and psychological evidence is strong that natural images, textures, patterns and light are all beneficial for wellbeing and recovery . Contact with Nature has been reported to have psychological benefits by reducing stress, improving attention, by having a positive effect on mental restoration, and by coping with attention deficits.

Natural light is important to healing and wellbeing and patients with views of open spaces get better faster. As the views from the new Cancer Unit will be limited to other hospital buildings and urban Dorchester, art can provide an alternative view for patients through translucent imagery of landscape and natural forms on windows. The window vinyls must in any case screen off views of the interior from outside by passers-by and occupiers of adjacent buildings, as necessary for patient’s actual and perceived privacy and confidentiality without the need for blinds and the accompanying loss of light’.

Dorset’s pioneering new cancer unit is under construction and due to be delivered in 2018 is being built and operated jointly by Poole and Dorset Hospitals. It will deliver world class health care for our local communities. The project will develop cancer facilities for patients all across Dorset and bring radiotherapy services to Dorchester for the first time. The new facilities will be life-changing, particularly for people who have previously had to travel long distances for radiotherapy services in Poole.

The unit will serve people of all ages, who have been diagnosed with cancer as well as their families. Patients who use this service are likely to be distressed and for some people, they may be living with a terminal diagnosis. The unit will be home to new linear accelerators (LINAC) – the device most commonly used for external beam radiation treatments for patients with cancer. It will be a multi-functional space offering life changing radiotherapy, consulting rooms and counselling rooms. The unit will also be used by support groups. The unit is being funded Dorset County Hospital Charity, Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (DCHFT), Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and with a major legacy from the photographer Robert White, a local man who died from cancer in 2015′. 

Image: Draft Artwork for Dorset County Hospital Cancer Unit by Christopher Tipping
Image: Draft Artwork – Found & re-imagined stones for Dorset County Hospital Cancer Unit by Christopher Tipping
Image: Draft artwork for Dorset County Hospital Cancer Unit by Christopher Tipping

 

 

A different view …

Some brilliant new images of my project for the new Macmillan Unit at Tameside & Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust  have come to light. It is always refreshing to see how others see your work & the space it was created for. In this instance I was very kindly given permission by Mike Hearle, European Digital Marketing Manager for Construction Specialties – to use images from their website. Construction Specialities supplied and installed the solid timber handrails running through the unit.  Take a look …the artwork was digitally printed and installed by VGL. The project was delivered by IBI Group Architects and Willis Newson, the UK’s leading arts and health consultancy.

Tameside Hospital New Macmillan Unit. Artwork by Christopher Tipping. Image by kind permission of Construction Specialities
Tameside Hospital New Macmillan Unit. Artwork by Christopher Tipping. Image by kind permission of Construction Specialities
Tameside Hospital New Macmillan Unit. Artwork by Christopher Tipping. Image by kind permission of Construction Specialities
Tameside Hospital New Macmillan Unit. Artwork by Christopher Tipping. Image by kind permission of Construction Specialities
Tameside Hospital New Macmillan Unit. Artwork by Christopher Tipping. Image by kind permission of Construction Specialities
Tameside Hospital New Macmillan Unit. Artwork by Christopher Tipping. Image by kind permission of Construction Specialities
Tameside Hospital New Macmillan Unit. Artwork by Christopher Tipping. Image by kind permission of Construction Specialities
Tameside Hospital New Macmillan Unit. Artwork by Christopher Tipping. Image by kind permission of Construction Specialities
Tameside Hospital New Macmillan Unit. Artwork by Christopher Tipping. Image by kind permission of Construction Specialities
Tameside Hospital New Macmillan Unit. Artwork by Christopher Tipping. Image by kind permission of Construction Specialities

Rogallo Place, Horsted Park, Rochester, Kent

Since August 2017 I have been working on a project for Optivo , commissioned by  Francis Knight Public Art Consultants  

“Rogallo Place is an extra care scheme with 63 apartments available for rent or shared ownership. FrancisKnight has commissioned artist Christopher Tipping with a brief to create art work that aids a sense of arrival to the buildings entrance. Designs are currently in production for vinyl artwork and a sculptural granite seat that reflect the historic rural and agricultural lands and the relationship with Rochester Airport that was built upon the local farmland. The Rogallo Wing is also credited which was a precursor to the modern hang glider and paraglider”. Francis Knight

Draft artwork for glazing vinyls. Rogallo Place, Horsted, Rochester. Image: Christopher Tipping
Draft artwork for glazing vinyls. Rogallo Place, Horsted, Rochester. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

 

Rogallo Place, Horsted Park, Rochester. Site Visit August 2017. Image: Christopher Tipping
Rogallo Place, Horsted Park, Rochester. Site Visit with Francis Knight, August 2017. Image: Christopher Tipping

Rogallo Place will provide 63 apartments – a new community will grow together here – part of the much larger new community of Horsted Park.

I am proposing that this artwork will be digitally printed on optically clear vinyl and applied to the glazing screens of the Entrance and Reception areas of the building.

I am creating abstract motifs inspired by various plans for ‘flexible wings’ such as Delta shaped airfoils and Ram-air types to create assemblies and group formations, which are intercut and mixed with drawings of plants and landscape. At a small-scale these new formations may themselves resemble flowers and plants within an abstract landscape. The groups are also suggestive of people and individuals coming together to form new associations and a new community. This approach is further inspired by aerial views of the locale taken from historic & contemporary aerial mapping as well as information gathered from local historic sources to create abstract motifs suggestive of clouds and patterns of updraft and airflow experienced by fliers, as well as textures and colours of field patterns and woods.

THE OS Map of 1869 shows Horsted Farm, with its Pond, Orchard & Chalk Pit surrounded by woods within a rural, agricultural landscape. Historic rural and agricultural lands with orchards, gardens and allotments surrounded by woods, which have been cultivated and managed for hundreds of years, interspersed with small communities working together. ‘The Horsted Valley is a wonderful green resource. It is one of the Medway Towns hidden gems, providing a vital green buffer between the surrounding urban areas and an important area for recreation and relaxation, and yet also providing a vital refuge and home for a wide variety of plants and animals’. Friends of Horsted Valley 

Churchland Wood

Great Chatham Grove

Newland Wood

Crooked Oak Wood

Newland Shaw

Warren Wood

East Cookham Wood

Great Delce Wood

Little Delce Wood

Horsted Grove

Westfield Wood

Slippers Wood

Crowhill Shaw

Court Bushes

Monk Wood

Bridge Wood

Detail of the OS Map of 1869 showing Horsted Farm. Image: National Library of Scotland – Map Images

 


Fort Horsted is one of five Forts built to protect the eastern flank of Chatham and the Dockyard, with its inherent history of military order, regimentation, defence and protection to draw upon.

 

Construction works started on Fort Horsted in 1880 – one of five Forts protecting Chatham’s Eastern Flank and primarily its strategically important Dockyard. Ordered by the Royal Commission following its report of 1860, the Fort was constructed by convicts under the supervision of the Royal Engineers.


Darland

Twydall

Luton

Horsted

Bridgewoods

 

The Fort sits adjacent to the historic Horsted Farm and the new Horsted Park. Its starkly geometric form is striking in plan in the landscape.

Detail of the OS Map of 1955 showing Fort Horsted. Image: National Library of Scotland – Map Images
Draft artwork for glazing vinyls. Rogallo Place, Horsted, Rochester. Image: Christopher Tipping

Rochester Airport was established in 1933 and built upon local farmland is the nearest industrial and business neighbour to Horsted Park. Its close proximity has been the inspiration for the street names throughout the site.

Rochester City Council compulsory purchased the land at Rochester Airfield in September 1933 from the landowner as the site for a municipal airport. One month later Short Brothers, who had started building aircraft in 1909 on the Isle of Sheppey, asked for permission to lease the land for test flying and thus began the privileged relationship between the local authority and the aviation industry.

In 1934-5 Short Brothers took over the Rochester Airport site when they moved some of their personnel from the existing seaplane works. Pobjoy Airmotors Ltd moved to Rochester at the same time to be closer to Short Brothers, to whom they were contracted for production of aircraft engines for the Short Scion. Financial difficulties led to a capital investment by Shorts in Pobjoy and the eventual assimilation of Pobjoy.

 

Rogallo Place itself has been named in response to this aviation history by taking its name from Francis Rogallo 1912 – 2009, an American aeronautical engineer inventor born in Sanger, California, U.S.; who is credited with the invention of the Rogallo Wing, or “flexible wing”, a precursor to the modern hang glider and paraglider. His patents were ranged over mechanical utility patents and ornamental design patents for wing controlsairfoils, target kite, flexible wing, and advanced configurations for flexible wing vehicles.

Francis Rogallo is still celebrated through aviation events, such as the Rogallo Kite Festival held annually at Nags Head Outer Banks North Carolina. His inventions started the sport of hang gliding and his designs have carried over into the stunt kites, power kites and hang gliders that are flown today. This event provides some very surreal and colourful images.

Draft artwork for glazing vinyls. Screens C & D – Rogallo Place, Horsted, Rochester. Image: Christopher Tipping
Draft artwork for glazing vinyls. Screens C & D – Rogallo Place, Horsted, Rochester. Image: Christopher Tipping
Draft artwork for glazing vinyls. Screens A & B – Rogallo Place, Horsted, Rochester. Image: Christopher Tipping
Draft artwork for glazing vinyls. Screens A & B – Rogallo Place, Horsted, Rochester. Image: Christopher Tipping
Draft artwork for glazing vinyls. Screens A & B – Rogallo Place, Horsted, Rochester. Image: Christopher Tipping

 

To compliment this interior work, I am also proposing an intervention in the landscape just outside the main entrance area.

A granite seat in several sections; a monolithic block of honed granite with large letters sandblasted into the vertical face of the seat spelling out ROGALLO PLACE. In plan, the shape suggests part of a delta wing – perhaps a nod to the Rogallo Place logo and the robust and enduring form of the nearby Fort Horsted.

Rogallo Place Drawing of Granite Bench by Hardscape. Image: Permission of Hardscape England.
Rogallo Place Drawing of Granite Bench by Hardscape. Image: Permission of Hardscape England.
Granite Benches Draft V2 Rogallo Place. Image: Christopher Tipping
Granite Benches Draft V1 Rogallo Place. Image: Christopher Tipping

Designs reproduced from the glazing vinyl artwork could also be sandblasted onto the honed granite surfaces, contextually and visually joining the two elements.

Granite for the bench is supplied and manufactured by Hardscape.