The UK’s leading minimalist, John Pawson, and Swarovski Crystal Palace have created a spectacular installation in the Geometric Staircase of St Paul’s Cathedral to reveal a new perspective of this architectural masterpiece and the genius of Sir Christopher Wren, who designed the Cathedral. Reflecting Wren’s desire that his buildings should incorporate scientific elements, ‘Perspectives’ uses the largest Swarovski lens ever manufactured to create a dramatic optical experience which depends on scientific subtlety, material simplicity and a complex combination of light, space and proportion to reflect an environment rich in history and beauty.
At the foot of Wren’s elegant spiralling staircase a concave Swarovski crystal meniscus will sit on a much larger reflective hemisphere, with a spherical convex mirror suspended 23 m above in the tower’s cupola. Together, these optical elements will create an extraordinary composite image of the view up through the tower for visitors gathered round the hemisphere at the base, allowing them, as Pawson says, “to see beyond the level of the naked eye” and gain a perspective never before seen of one of Britain’s most iconic buildings.
Entitled ‘Perspectives’, this experiential work will be open to the public until January 2012.
