Paul Cocksedge Studio has been commissioned by The Wellcome Trust to produce a major display that will illuminate Euston Road in central London.
A short stroll from the recently launched St Pancras station sits an impressive 9-storey glass building which houses the UK's largest charity, The Wellcome Trust. The front windows of the building are seen by over 1.8 million passers by each year, providing the perfect opportunity to engage the public with the work of this medical charity.
With this in mind, Paul Cocksedge has created a dramatic window display of arms stretching across the full length of the building. Using a unique electronic material that allows light to pass through it, but with a flick of a switch can stop the light, the magic skin covering the arms disappears to reveal veins and arteries inside the arms which have been translated into glass neon tubes.
One of the hands is intentionally pointing to the building next door drawing the public's attention to the recently launched Wellcome Collection, a public venue that explores the relationship between medicine, life, art and history.
James Peto, Senior Curator at Wellcome Collection, commented "The challenge was to create a window design that in the simplest of terms gets across a message about the Wellcome Trust," explains Paul Cocksedge. "I am keen to engage with those passers-by who are not familiar with the work of the Trust, and also to show the relationship between both buildings that are architecturally distinct from one another."
"The reference to the human body is a symbol of medical research, all be it an obvious one. I am keen to show how making the skin become invisible reveals the workings of the arms, similar to an X-ray. The intention is that people walking along busy Euston Road will, for a moment in time, consider their own bodies and walk away with a clear association between imagery and the Wellcome Trust."
Wellcome Trust spokesperson comments: "Paul Cocksedge is one of the UK's most inventive young designers, and we are delighted to be working with him on this commission. The scale of the piece not only amplifies its visual impact but also relates to the proportions of the architecture of our building: the neck and torso is replaced by one of the building's columns, and is subtle reference to the main body of the Wellcome Trust existing within this building."
Paul Cocksedge 29, was born in London and studied industrial design at Sheffield Hallam University before attending the Royal College of Art in London.
He has exhibited at the Design Museum and Powerhouse Museum and his work is part of the Victoria & Albert Museum and Pinakothek der Moderne Die Neue Sammlung permanent collections.
He has lectured and exhibited in major international cities, such as Sidney, Tokyo, Milan, Moscow, Istanbul, Cologne, Miami and Toronto and is a member of 100% Design advisory panel.
To view this project please visit: http://www.paulcocksedge.co.uk
Photos: Richard Brine