SpY suspends kinetic installation in bern hospital atrium for artistic healing

spy & studio banana explore healing through art installations

Designed to enchant and disperse a meditative mood among visitors, patients, and employees at Bern’s University Hospital Inselpita, Loops weaves together art and architecture. Gently floating within the 25-meter-high atrium of the recently inaugurated Anna-Seiler-Haus building, the kinetic art installation by SpY engages in a captivating dialogue with its surroundings, enhancing the hospital environment with its minimal design and endless palette of evocative shapes inspired by nature.

The project has been developed as part of a co-design process with the Inselspital staff in collaboration with Studio Banana, GWJ, IAAG, ASTOC, Archipel General Planer, MKT Engineering, and SpY. It comprises 24 aluminum rings of varying diameters, each integrating an LED glowing surface on their inner rims. Suspended by two cables and steered by motorized winches, they shift both horizontally and vertically, creating a synchronized dance that imparts an impression of three-dimensional movement constantly evolving in space.

24 loops hover and evolve in the hospital’s atrium

Both engaging and soothing, Loops presents a new paradigm for site-specific installations in the re-envisioning of hospitals as more humane environments, enlivening the largest hospital in Switzerland. The production of the artwork spanned over two years and involved the development of bespoke equipment by world-leading engineers. Spanning up to 21 meters in height, 6 meters in width, and 8 meters in length, it contrasts the orthogonal structure of the architecture with its smoothly edged rings, offering diverse viewpoints and perspectives from the five floors of the atrium as both spectators and the installation move. The installation’s non-invasive form respects the physical and functional requirements of the hospital, providing a dynamic eye-catcher for meditative breaks.

Spanish artist SpY and design consultancy Studio Banana sought to question how art can positively impact patients’ physical and emotional wellbeing within a hospital environment. Site-specific installations, they propose, provide a vast potential in the re-envisioning of hospitals as more humane environments. The design of Loops, as such, is based upon the primary principle that art can heal. Aiming at a thorough influence, the movements of the sculpture gently stimulate not only the eye, but also the mind of the viewer.

1/2

project info:

name: Loops

client: Inselspital Bern

artist: SpY

design consultancy: Studio Banana

engineering: MKT Engineering

architecture: ASTOC Architects and Planners, GWJ Architektur, IAAG Architekten, since 2018 with Archipel Generalplanung

sound designer: Omar Tenani

video: Mind The FIlm, RubenP Bescos, SpY

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.