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How colour, pattern and materials become therapeutic

Sisters Petra and Nicole of creative studio Kapitza have just completed a site-specific public art project for the Royal London Hospital that looks to use the therapeutic power of colour and pattern.

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Overhead view of a person with blonde hair lying on a vibrant, colourful floor covered with bold geometric shapes, patterns and symbols in red, blue, yellow, pink, green and black.

The artist and designer duo was commissioned to bring their bold, bright work to the newly refurbished Edwardian building, Ambrose King Centre, at the Royal London Hospital. "Our ambition was to create a positive and compelling space to enhance patients wellbeing," they say.

The result – their first public art commission—uses a dynamic mix of colour, pattern and materials that look to provide functional wayfinding assistance, while offering an uplifting aesthetic to help with gently lift patients' spirits.

The installation, entitled 'Diversity', runs over two storeys of the building, spanning the centre's reception room into waiting areas and through corridors outside treatment areas.

The large painting in the main reception area uses a series of abstract geometric symbols, and "acts as a keystone for the artwork throughout the service," says Kapitza.

Symbols from this then become recurring motifs throughout the building as repeating patterns in vinyl, wood and framed prints, moving with patients as they navigate the physical space and walk through the service.

The central idea of using these dynamic graphics was that they serve as an alternative system of wayfinding, and in doing so reduce the need for excessive clinical signage to create a more positive, harmonious environment for the patients.

Bright lime-green geometric symbol mounted on a white corridor wall at the Royal London Hospital, with a person in a pink top walking past
Large bright orange circle bisected by a black wayfinding sign reading "Toilets" on a white corridor wall at the Royal London Hospital
Bright corridor with a blue wavy line painted on the white wall and colourful geometric shapes visible through open doorways ahead
Hospital corridor with three purple diamond shapes on left wall and colourful geometric pattern visible through doorway ahead
Waiting area with three magenta chairs below two framed prints featuring abstract geometric shapes in bright colours by Kapitza
Woman walking through a modern hospital corridor with blue wavy patterns on the left wall, magenta chairs, and a green circular symbol on the right wall as part of Kapitza's Diversity art installation
Bright magenta chairs arranged in a waiting room with yellow geometric wall art on the left and pink square prints on the right wall
Five magenta chairs arranged in a row beneath a grid of eighteen turquoise circles on a white wall in the Ambrose King Centre at Royal London Hospital
Waiting area with three magenta chairs against a wall featuring a large blue geometric pattern of curved shapes, and three pink circles stacked vertically on the adjacent wall
Two framed artworks by Kapitza displaying repeating patterns of orange and blue geometric shapes on a white gallery wall
Three magenta chairs face two framed prints featuring bold geometric shapes in bright colours on a white wall in a hospital waiting area
Woman sitting in purple chair viewing Kapitza's colourful geometric mural artwork at the Royal London Hospital's Ambrose King Centre
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