This children’s intensive care unit has been transformed by a multi-million-pound art project.
St Mary’s hospital, Paddington, joined up with the Albers Foundation to design the interior.
The foundation represents the estates of German artists Josef and Anni Albers whose geometric patterns and calm colours are seen throughout the unit. It includes murals from his Homage To The Square series, as well as bed screens and wallpaper taken from her work.
The head of the unit Dr Simon Nadel said it was an attempt to “combine state-of-the-art clinical equipment and space with beautiful artworks” to create a “healing and therapeutic environment”.
The £10 million refurbishment will almost double the number of beds and enable staff to treat an extra 200 seriously ill children every year. A fundraising campaign – the More Smiles Appeal – raised £2 million and a further grant of £2.8 million came from the Imperial Health Charity, with Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust provided the remaining funds.
The foundation’s director Nicholas Fox Weber said: “For Anni, abstract art was a source of balance and diversion, a relief from life’s troubles.
“For her and Josef, the universal and timeless qualities of rhythm and colour brighten existence and enable people to withstand life’s greatest challenges.”
