Slate Work – Ackroyd & Harvey
Slate Work East
David Attenborough Building, Cambridge, 2016
Corn Exchange Entrance – Publicly accessible
Commissioned as part of the development of the David Attenborough Building itself, Ackroyd & Harvey were awarded a major public art commission in response to the refurbishment and redevelopment of this iconic brutalist building, originally designed by Arup Associates in the 1960’s. The work is one of two large-scale exterior works composed of intensively layered slate.
This work is inspired by the architectural and mathematical principles found within myriad forms in nature that grow with the inherent numerical order observed in the 13thcentury and called the Fibonacci sequence. The numbers from this sequence are manifested throughout nature in the forms and designs of many animals and plants and have also been reproduced in various manners in art and architecture.
Architecturally, the line of the design references the ‘golden mean’ or ‘golden section’, a simple ratio theorized as symmetry, proportion and harmony.
The artists have reinterpreted this iconic form in their chosen material of slate, capturing an exquisitely crafted complexity of line that creates a spiral.
Constructed from over thousands of layers of slate and built up to create an intense stratum visual effect, Welsh slate is acknowledged as the finest of its type worldwide; light grey in colour with a subtle reflective surface, the riven cut edge lends a chalky white slant to the grey, and the material used in the artwork is a waste product from the roof tiling industry, enhancing the sustainable ethos of the artwork.
Slate Work South
David Attenborough Building, Cambridge, 2016
Downing Street Entrance – Publicly accessible
This is the second of two large-scale exterior works composed of intensively layered slate.
This work takes inspiration from a black walnut tree photographed by the artists in the Cambridge University Botanic Gardens. It acknowledges both the history of the New Museums Site as the original home to the botanical garden in the 18th century and the archetypal ‘tree of life’ that has been used in science, philosophy, art and mythology for centuries. It alludes to the connection of all life on planet Earth, serving as a metaphor for common descent in evolutionary biology as famously captured by Darwin’s dendrogram drawing in On the Origin of Species.
The artwork is akin to a graphite pencil drawing with subtle shading and tonalities that shift and change as the light plays on the slate surface. The colour of the slate echoes the tall grey towers, iconic landmarks of The David Attenborough Building. Constructed from layers of slate that create a sense of rock strata, within the wall are discrete spaces to attract a range of wildlife including bats, solitary bees, spiders and insects. The Museum of Zoology launched a project with local schools and over 3,000 snail shells were collected, many of which a hidden with Slate Wall South.
Over 500 million years old, Welsh slate is acknowledged as the finest of its type worldwide; light grey in colour with a subtle reflective surface, the riven cut edge lends a chalky white slant to the grey, and the material used in the artwork is a waste product from the roof tiling industry.
The David Attenborough Building redevelopment project won many awards, you can read more about it on the David Attenborough Building webpages.
