A new light sculpture by renowned American artist Spencer Finch has been commissioned
for the exterior façade of Quadrant 3, the Crown Estate’s largest and most prestigious development to date, located in the centre of the West End.
Spencer Finch’s Vital Signs takes the form of a vertical ladder of illuminated LED bars, animating the corner façade of Brewer Street and Sherwood Street. Three facades of the former Regent Palace Hotel were retained as part of the major re-development by architects Dixon Jones and offer a rich combination of Edwardian and contemporary architecture.
Finch’s light work echoes the traditional ‘zipper’ style signage of neon’s heyday, and alludes to the iconic neon-lit prow of Regent Palace Hotel. The sculpture exists simultaneously as a beautiful, abstract and vibrant sign, marking the new Quadrant 3 building, but in another sense it reveals its specific meaning only to the curious and the observant.
The LED bars are illuminated with five colours, each corresponding to different data stream relating to the new life of the building. Data-feeds for the artwork utilise digital readings from the building management system, and translate this information into abstract form. Each colour corresponds to a different aspect of the new activity of the building, so long in disuse, from its green energy production and harvested rainwater, to its power consumption, differential between internal and external temperature, and lift operation. Conceived by the artist as an "electrocardiogram for the entire building”, the dynamic light installation becomes graphic expression of the energy and life of the building. Vital Signs shows in real time what is happening inside, allowing the architecture to express its inner life to the street.
This project is part of The Quadrant Public Art Programme curated and managed for The Crown Estate by Modus Operandi.
