Title: Populating Places Reed Forms

Date: 2004

Dimensions: clusters of illuminated poles ranging 3.5-9m in height, of varying diameters; plus 36 groundlights 25mm diameter

Location: Grange Park District Centre, Grange Park, Northamptonshire

Description: The sculpture consists of two clusters of ‘reed’ forms inhabiting the two focal areas of the District Centre development. The simple forms populate the paved spaces, creeping across from the soft areas. Their illuminated seed heads create a magic, both day and night. The tops sway in the wind, accentuating their organic quality, helping to identify the District Centre and Grange Park as a bridge between the rural and the urban.

Both clusters have been designed to relate to each other and the surrounding hard and soft landscaping. Small spots of light in the floorscape appear like seeds scattered, suggesting more could ‘grow’ through the pavement at any time.

Photographer: The Artist, Martine Hamilton-Knight, Paul Brooke Barnes, SGP Architects.t

Materials: Glass fibre, Stainless steel, Resin, LED units

Project details- Funded by: GP Foundation, Regional Arts Lottery, Section 106 agreement, Arts and Business, Community Safety Partnership.

Organised by: South Northamptonshire District Council

Architect: SGP Architects, Munro + Whitten Landscape Architects

Project Background: This commission is part of a wider programme of Public Art at Grange Park, a new residential, retail and community development adjacent to the M1 Motorway. The project has developed a number of artistic opportunities with the aim of building a unique identity and atmosphere, encouraging the evolving community to engage with, and take care and ownership of, their new environment.

The concepts for the District Centre support this vision through the integration of a sculptural artwork into the environment. Other offshoot initiatives have also contributed to the overall design quality of the public spaces, hoping to engender a sense of pride in the development and therefore the whole of Grange Park. Ideas have been shaped in collaboration with the Design Team, balancing different priorities and taking into account the physicality of the site and stage in the building process.

The progress of the project has been fed back to the local community who have also been involved with temporary initiatives, including the ‘Populating Places’ Shopping Bag Project developed during the design process, helping to build eager anticipation for the District Centre opening.