In 2007 Urban Splash began to transform the derelict former Imperial Tobacco UK Headquarters in Heartcliff, Bristol, into a new mainly residential development called Lake Shore. I was commissioned to work on a project that articulated the building’s relationship with the innovative and invisible ground source heat pump system that would provide the building with efficient and sustainable heating and cooling. I researched and developed a method of working directly into wax and casting into bronze, sections of which would be connected together to make a tactile, thermal handrail.
CLIENT: Urban Splash
ARCHITECT: Acanthus Ferguson Mann
A&E CONSULTANT: Atelier 10
ART CONSULTANT: Ginkgo Projects
WAX MANUFACTURERS: British Wax
FOUNDRY: Bronze Age
CONTRACT VALUE: £100,000
Sadly, the economic situation in 2008 and 2009 meant that Urban Splash revised their plans for the site and that this project remains uncompleted.