An enclosed space between London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital and its latest expansion building. Thanks to Studio Weave, this narrow and unused courtyard has turned into a Lullaby Factory.
A melody is played through each pipe: just stop walking and place an ear over one of them…
Not only a fairytale for children, but also an amusement and a distraction for patients in the care of the nearby hospital. For those who cannot move from their rooms, the special soundtrack composed by Jessica Curry is also available on a radio frequency.
Instead of covering the messy drainage system hanging from the walls, the architects took advantage of it. The result is a network of gold and bronze pipes and horns, among which you can also find some taps and gauges recycled from a decommissioned hospital boilerhouse.
As the space between the two buildings is very tight “any attempt to tidy it up too much would have resulted in significantly reducing the sense of space” explain the architects. 10 storeys high and 32 meters long, the Lullaby Factory “can engage the imagination of everyone, from patients and parents to hospital staff, by providing an interesting and curious world to peer out onto”.
The project re-imagines the Southwood façade with all its qualities and oddities, creating something unique and site specific. Highly crafted beauty and complexity of musical instruments compose this magic installation. A secret world that can be seen only inside the hospital and that cannot be heard by the naked ear.
This is not the first fantasy landscape realized by Studio Weave. Among their projects are a set of pipes to amplify the sounds of the countryside, a latticed timber hut on stilts and a 324-metre-long bench.
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