The Lullaby Factory
Multiple pipes and mechanisms scale the side of a hospital and create delightful tunes for passersby.
Great Ormond Street Hospital has become home to a secret Lullaby Factory for children. The installation, designed by Hackney-based architects Studio Weave, has transformed an unused and somewhat awkward interior space into a symphony of gold, bronze and silver listening pipes.
Commissioned to fill the enclosed space between old and new buildings while the hospital undergoes an expansive multi-phased redevelopment, Studio Weave chose not to cover up the messy pipes and drainage systems already adorning the space, but, instead, to add to them, with a wide-spanning framework of pipes and horns. The fantasy landscape, reminiscent of Roald Dahl’s Big Friendly Giant dream-catching scenes, has been designed to engage the imagination of everyone who sees it – staff, patients and parents alike.
Sound artist Jessica Curry composed the lullabies, which can be listened to from a number of the pipes, but it’s also transmitted by a radio frequency, meaning patients on the wards can tune in too. Using taps and gauges salvaged from a decommissioned hospital boiler house, the whole installation reaches 10 storeys in height and 32 metres in length, and the intricacies and highly-crafted beauty of the piece are a sight to behold.
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