Downe Hospital

These designs for the Entrance Glazing and the Rehabilitation Waiting Room Screen are intended to suggest themes of water, healing and colour. Based on watercolours painted around Downpatrick, the designs combine both the life-sustaining effects of water, and the medicinal and pharmacological use of plant extracts in the healing process.

Freehand blue swathes suggest the historical importance of water to the region, and the proximity of Struell and other ancient healing wells. Superimposed over the watery imagery is the heart-shaped leaf of Aristolochia Durior (Dutchman’s Pipe). The medicinal properties of plants from this species were traditionally used to aid childbirth, and are still used today in the prevention of cancers. At eye level on the ground floor are multiple Indigofera Dosua (Indigo) leaves, a member of the pea family, and one of the mankind’s earliest natural dyes.

This was quite a complicated commission to organise, involving four nations. The glass artwork was realised by Proto Studios in Pewsey, Wiltshire, where screen-printed glass enamels were applied to float glass, and which were fixed in the toughening process. The coloured glass panels were shipped to County Tipperary in the Republic of Ireland where they were made up into double-glazed units by Carey Glass Ltd. The double-glazed units were then transported to site, and were installed by McMullen Architectural Systems, Armagh, in May 2009.

Commissioner: South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust, Northern Ireland

Address: Struell Wells Road, Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland

Architects: Scott Wilson Group