My installation reflects the maritime origins of tropical medicine, and the School’s early history, which was inextricably linked with seafaring. Many of the papers and correspondence which passed between the architect and the client at the time the original building was constructed are still available. There are numerous references to maritime architecture within these and plenty of nautical touches to be found in the original building design. I have tried to reflect this theme in the wave wall, using oak veneer for both the wall and the ceiling.

By using oak, I am also seeking to convey the idea of development and change. The structure of an oak tree alters over the centuries, to compensate for changes in the environment, just as the research environment and our level of understanding about disease has grown and shifted since the School was originally constructed.

I have always been interested in the use of oak as a building material through the ages. In days past, British shipbuilders had an understanding of the scarcity of natural resources and the need to protect the environment which might surprise us today. Rather than harvesting entire oak forests, they would select a bough as close as possible to the shape and size of the beam they required, in order to keep wastage to a minimum.











last updated 09.06.04 | site designed and maintained by Adrian Cousins