Plantation Lane: Time and Tide

Simon Patterson/Arup Associates/British Land

March 2005
Code: 38606
ISBN: 1 85946 173 5
978 1 85946 173 0
88 pp
Paperback
£22.50

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Plantation Place is an innovative work of contemporary architecture in the heart of the City of London. Within the context of this new development is an artwork that forms part of a carefully arranged architectural mix of new and old. The illuminated screen of Time and Tide, a collaboration between Arup Associates and Simon Patterson - his first permanently sited installation in a public place - is a welcome mediation between the 'ancient' city of Wren's church and the modern development of Plantation Place.

Plantation Lane: Time and Tide celebrates this significant new art work and highlights the relationship between architecture and art within the public realm. It is beautifully illustrated in colour, with photographs and drawings depicting the effects of a gigantic lunar illustration within this linear, narrow lane, surrounded by the ancient history of London and the corporate architecture of London’s financial district.

Plantation Lane – created by multi-disciplinary architects Arup Associates and artist Simon Patterson – is a public walkway that beautifully marries the individual buildings of Plantation Place. The illuminated screen of Time and Tide is 41 metres long and 6 metres high and forms a crucial part of the architectural perspectives. Its position means that the key elements of Sir Christopher Wren’s 1688 St Margaret Pattens Church are accentuated, the steeple remains unobscured and the angle of the top edge of Patterson’s screen leads the eye very precisely to the line of the centuries old cornice. We also encounter Patterson’s idiosyncratic use of language and words, his lateral approach to history and naming and his fascination for space travel and the cosmic.

Plantation Lane: Time and Tide will inspire developers, architects, artists — in fact anyone who believes that the fusion of art and architecture within the public realm is an essential part of the creation of high quality environments.