The Royal Hospital for Children and Young People
Helping creating an exciting new space for the children hospital in Edinburgh was a wonderful experience. I was approached to help the design team (William (www.williamwarren.co.uk)and Daniel Warren (www.warrendesign.uk) along with Ginkgo Projects ) create a magical new hospital space (refered to as the ‘pod’) for the children of Edinburgh and the Lothian’s. After many years working on the job, a few delays and then a pandemic - it is so, so wonderful to finally see my designs and artwork finally being enjoyed by children, families and staff as the new Royal Hospital for Children and Young people in Edinburgh finally starts opening its doors to out patients. This element of the hospital was funded by The Edinburgh Childrens Hospital chairty .
My aim was always to make the space feel welcoming and fun for children. To help them forget for a moment why they were there, and to improve their experience within the building - bring a little fun, humor, laughter, and a smile to their faces at a time when they can often be scared. This artwork was very much designed with the children in the forefront of my mind, and as it was also at a time when I was starting my own family - this artwork will always hold a very special place in my own design journey.
The concept is based around the city of Edinburgh - from the outset we wanted to create a scene that brought the city and its iconic landmarks into the new hospital, at Little France on the outskirts of Edinburgh. The old hospital was in the city: the new hospital would feel like the city was within it.
At the start of the journey we worked with children through workshops to see what sort of buildings they would create/imagine if they could live anywhere - what their dream Edinburgh would look like. The results were fantastic, and resulted in buildings made of: ice cream; teacup towers; space rockets; cloud homes; and many aliens and monsters and animals. It was from here that the design started to take shape: I took these ideas and concepts and then applied them to my own interpretation of the Edinburgh Skyline.
Within the design we strove to achieve separate layers for both the adult and child viewers. We wanted there to be Edinburgh landmarks that would be recognizable to a grown up: the Edinburgh skyline; Arthur’s Seat; the Balmoral Clock Tower; and the The Scott’s Monument (to name a few). On closer inspection however the viewer realises these iconic landmarks are built from the unexpected: fun building blocks; clogs; forks; paper airplanes; space rockets; hidden creatures - the list is endless. My hope was always that the grown ups would take in the skylines and the holistic feeling of ‘Edinburgh’ whilst the children would find the detail and enjoy spotting the things that we often as grown ups walk past.
High above the hospital is Edinburgh Castle; or is it a sleeping dragon, keeping a look-out over the hospital? Familiar Edinburgh rooftops are painted onto walls, and etched onto the glass, but with a closer look you find little forks for spires, hearts and diamonds for windows and the occasional monster eye looking down on you. There is a big clock tower, which re-imagined as a a weather clock, lights-up and keeps everyone in the hospital on time - much like the Balmoral Clock Tower in Princes Street. Arthur’s Seat stands guard over the city - but on closer inspection you might see a sleeping giant. The Scott’s Monument stand proudly in the center of the ‘pod’ - ready to launch into space.
Along with Edinburgh’s iconic monuments there are also lots of details that make Edinburgh special to me hidden within the design - including the penguin parade from Edinburgh zoo; the original Sick Kids Hospital building; elements of the Scottish Parliament building; lots of Scottish wildlife (and a few monsters and aliens too). There are even a few of my own Westie ‘Mary’ hidden within the design - see if you can spot her!
It was such an honor to be part of this project and I can only hope it will bring a smile to the many children who will occupy these spaces as they travel through the Royal Hospital for Children and Young people in my home town of Edinburgh.
