UK's first interactive distraction art installation opens at Great Ormond Street Hospital for patients on way to operating theatre
Jason Bruges Studio has completed a unique project for Great Ormond Street Hospital,designed to improve the experience for patients aged 1-16 on their way to the operating theatre.A large-scale distraction artwork,called The Nature Trail,which runs along the 50 metre stretch of corridor walls,has been created to help produce a calming,yet engaging,route to surgery.
Magically illuminated and animated 3D animal characters,such as hedgehogs,horses,birds,deer and frogs,appear through the foliage and forest depicted on the bespoke wallpaper,to engage and interact playfully with passers-by.
The interactive installation consists of two main elements–integrated LED panels and customised graphic wallpaper,which are embedded into the walls and cover both sides of the 50 metre stretch of corridor.The animals come to life when censors located in the ceiling sense movement below.
The Nature Trail comprises 70 LED panels,consisting of 72,000 LEDs in total,which are embedded into the wall surface at various heights in order to be accessible to varying eye levels and positions of patients travelling along the corridors.The bespoke printed wallpaper,created by Muraspec,is hospital grade,wipe clean and easy to replace.
Jason Bruges,Creative Director,Jason Bruges Studio,said:"Creating an artwork in an environment like a children's hospital is extremely challenging.I think bringing this environment to life,so that there are true moments of distraction and fascination is a dream project in the history of the studio."
Natalie Robinson,Deputy Director of Redevelopment,Great Ormond Street Hospital,commented:"The Nature Trail on the journey to theatre is an effective piece for patients.The benefit of taking this kind of approach to distraction is a really positive experience for children and their families."
The work has been installed in the Theatres floor within the hospital's new Morgan Stanley Clinical Building,the first part of the Mittal Children's Medical Centre.In partnership with Jason Bruges Studio,the hospital plans to introduce the second phase of The Nature Trail by 2017.
