Royal Hospital for Children & Young People, Edinburgh

A jungle pattern featuring exotic animals and Scottish plantlife, 2020

Project Summary:

Strategy

Engagement

Textile design

Graphic Design

Visualisations and layout plans

Fabrication drawings

Screen Printing

Project management

We were commissioned by Dress For the Weather Architects and Ginkgo Projects to create surface designs for the drop in centre within the newly built Royal Hospital for Children & Young People and Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Edinburgh.

Working in collaboration with patients, families and staff, we designed two patterns inspired by everyday views of the meadows and exotic animals from Edinburgh zoo.

An abstract and pictorial representation of these themes created a playful design for use on different materials within the centre with the aim of creating a warm, welcoming atmosphere allowing those using the centre to feel at home.

A series of community engagement sessions with patients, parents and staff helped us better understand what they would like to see on the walls of their new facility. 

The participants were extremely fond of the Edinburgh Meadows which was right across from the original facility and this became the starting point for our jungle like design. 

The sessions were informative and also practical using screen printing methods for participants to create their own motifs in addition to working with sections of the bespoke design.

This helped participants understand our design process, choice of shapes and colours in addition to providing us with lots of inspiration and feedback throughout the development of the project.

The designs were printed onto plywood in house and coated with a healthcare specification lacquer.

Fabrics were digitally printed to create double sided curtains and room dividers, softening the room and complementing the wooden features creating a fun and vibrant atmosphere.

This interactive and double sided aspect of the artwork provides a playful distraction for patients and staff during their time in the centre.

Dress for the Weather have made the final shortlist for the Scottish Design Awards 2020 in the Interior Design category for the RHCYP project. We are delighted to have contributed to the success of the project through patterned interventions within the interior design scheme.