Light installation, Ealing, London

Draisci Studio design was selected to complement and enhance the central area of the new ADT Building of St Benedict School in London.
The installation, spanning across the double height space between the ground floor atrium and first floor library, had to represent the ethos of the school and provide a vivid focus, clearly marking the students’ meeting point in the building designed by vHH architects.

Benedictine monks gave enormous contribution to the diffusion of Culture in Europe, by learning and copying books.
The knowledge acquired with books still enlightens the spirit and consciousness of millions of Europeans and people worldwide.
Such inspiration informed the design that explores the relationship between “Light” and “Enlightenment”.
In a similar way to stained glass windows in spiritual environments around the world, light filtering through a colourful medium creates magical wonder, providing inspiration and hopeful illumination for the students.

This joyful design features 144 colourful Perspex rods arranged in a 12 x 12 matrix.
Fibre optic tails feed the see-through rods that appear more or less dense
when moving around the space.
Multiple colour combinations are generated by the overlapping of the rods, when viewed from different angles.
A subtle reference to St Benedict’s motto “Ora et Labora” (Pray and Work) is embedded in rows of engraved letters that appear along secret lines of sight.

CREDITS:
design and production team: Francesco Draisci, Rosalba Napolitano, Giulia Carlicchi, Katerina Karachaliou

Fabrication: Zone Creations

Photos: Carlo Draisci, Morten Odding