Future Vision Specs
CONCEPT PROPOSAL
The breakout garden spaces are informal areas set back from the main thoroughfare, in which people may take a break from their work. As such, they present an opportunity to interpret the theme of this part of the site in a fun and quirky way.
To anyone of a certain age, trying to visualise what lies beyond the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum brings to mind mail-order adverts for x-ray specs seen as a child on the back pages of comics. The fact every child knew they wouldn't work didn't stop them wanting a pair, because the mere thought of being able to see the as-yet-unseen is so compelling.
This compelling thought is the same one that lies behind the impulse to undertake scientific research. It is the desire to see into the future.
Our idea is to develop the concept of x-ray specs and create a series of oversized future-specs, each supposedly able to illuminate a different part of the non-visible spectrum. So there would be a pair of x-ray specs, a pair of gamma-ray specs, and so on. We might even have a pair of dark matter specs.
Three pairs of future-specs are arranged on a single seating surface as though left on a desk. They would provide backrests and armrests. The frames would be aluminium and the lenses would be laminated glass, in each case bearing a particular interlayer design relating to x-rays, gamma-rays, etc.
“Broadbent Studio creation
As artists and designers, Broadbent Studio’s idea was to develop the concept of x-ray specs and create a series of oversized future-specs, resulting in brightly colourful specs with distinctive optical patterns representing x-ray vision, gamma-ray vision, infrared vision, dark energy vision, dark matter vision, and parallel time vision.
About Project Violet
Project Violet is part of the development at Sci-Tech Daresbury. Its completion is a landmark moment for world-class high-tech business and leading-edge science in the North West. Violet encompasses two buildings (V2 and V3) providing 12,000 sq ft each, and one building (V1) of 19,000 sq ft. Major landscaping improvements have been made around the Sci-Tech Daresbury campus.”
Linear Light Garden at Daresbury Sci Tech Campus
Linking to the placemaking already established in 2016 in collaboration with Landscape Architects - Planit, the Future Vision Specs continues the concept of wonder.
The creation of a linear park, with a pathway that leads you through a story of science crafted in glass, stone and steel and integrated into a shaped landscape. It is a ‘pathway of progress’ as you walk out from the heart of the science park with five feature gardens. It is a welcoming ‘gateway into wonderland’ when you arrive at the park. Photos by Adrian Lambert.
