Here are some more facts about the Winter Garden in Sheffield, this time about the architectural features:-
The Winter Garden is glazed with over 2,100 metres of glass, uses 900 cubic ms of concrete and 80 tonnes of steel. The paving is grit stone which was sourced from local quarries.
The primary support structure consists of 10 pairs of glue laminated timber arches. The wood used is larch - a durable timber which will silver over time. The building is one of the largest glue laminated timber structures in the UK.
The Winter Garden has been designed to be highly energy efficient and provide a model of sustainable development in a city centre site.
Environmental conditions are controlled by a Building Management System
This controls opening and closing of vents as well as under-floor heating. High level fans keep air circulating to prevent cold damp air stratifying around the plants and to move warm air so as not to cook the plant tissue.
Because of its height the Winter Garden is a suitable place to hang art installations and I saw an amazing one recently. It had been installed to celebrate the official launch of Sheffield University's research facility, the Florey Institute, which aims to tackle the global problem of antibiotic resistance and infectious disease. The institute is named in honour of Sir Howard Florey who conducted the first ever clinical trials of penicillin. Today infectious bacterial species are becoming increasingly resistant and new ways to combat infectious disease are needed.
The sculpture also had relevance to two scientific festivals in the city that took place over recent months, the University of Sheffield's KrebsFest, which celebrates the life and work of the University's Nobel Prize-winning academic Sir Hans Krebs. He was awarded the prize in Physiology or Medecine in 1953 for discovering the Krebs cycle - the conversion of food into energy within a cell and 'The Hidden Worlds Festival' whose theme was about shedding light on unseen wonders in nature.
The sculpture also had relevance to two scientific festivals in the city that took place over recent months, the University of Sheffield's KrebsFest, which celebrates the life and work of the University's Nobel Prize-winning academic Sir Hans Krebs. He was awarded the prize in Physiology or Medecine in 1953 for discovering the Krebs cycle - the conversion of food into energy within a cell and 'The Hidden Worlds Festival' whose theme was about shedding light on unseen wonders in nature.
The giant floating sculpture of an E. coli bacterium was created by Luke Jerram. His multidisciplinary practice involves the creation of sculptures, installations and live art projects around the world including glass microbiology art works that are in museum collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, London and Shanghai. You can see some of them on his web site here. They are amazing.
The sculpture is about five million times bigger than a real E. coli bacterium. It is so large that it had to be produced by Cameron Balloons, the world's largest hot air balloon manufacturer.
Jerram's work is designed to make the microscopic world around us visible and demonstrate the importance of bacteria in our lives. Some forms of E. coli can cause illness or death, but scientists need to study bacterium in order to further scientific research. The artist said "Making visible the microscopic world around us, the artwork was made as an experimental object to contemplate and allow the public to experience a dizzying perception of scale. I'm interested to find out what the public make of the artwork. Does the bacteria look scary, beautiful, comical or alien?"
What do you think? When I first saw the installation I thought it was beautiful as a piece of artwork and wondered about the mechanics of hanging it from the arches of the building. I was curious to find out more about what had inspired the artist to create it and had to do some research which I've shared here.
It was a coincidence that within two weeks of seeing the sculpture I had the opportunity to visit Firth Court when I went there for the book festival event. As it houses the University of Sheffield's Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology and Biomedical Science there were other artworks displayed there in the Entrance Hall and on the staircase leading to Firth Hall where my meeting was held. Apparently Luke Jerram's E. coli sculpture had also been hung in Firth Hall, but because it's a listed building the inflatable could not be suspended in a conventional manner. You can read here how a solution was found on the website of the specialist rigging company, UK Rigging, who did the work.
Firth Court
An abstract painting of the Krebs Cycle by Florence Blanchard is on the wall to the right. Florence Blanchard is also a well known street artist. She decorated the end window in the main corridor of the Millennium Gallery which I featured on a photo scavenger hunt blog post here.
Model (Green Fluorescent Protein) - Origami by Seiko Kinoshita, textile artist
Sir Hans Krebs (portrait by Keith Robinson)