Artist Alison Turnbull was appointed as Lead Artist for Pembroke College’s Mill Lane development, working collaboratively with architects Haworth Tompkins and landscape architects Tom Stuart Smith Ltd. As part of this role she proposed two permanent commissions for Chiu Court and the new Auditorium foyer, creating works that connect the internal and external spaces of the development through shared references to the College’s architectural archive.

For Chiu Court, Turnbull developed a 9 × 12 metre courtyard garden in collaboration with landscape designer Kurosh Davis. The design combines a Voronoi pattern of cut York stone with a 3 × 3 metre porcelain mosaic based on Alfred Waterhouse’s 19th century drawing of the College Library’s spiral staircase. Framed by stone benches and a gentle water feature that threads across the paving, the courtyard creates a contemplative space where the marks of time embedded in the original drawing (folds, stains and tears) are reinterpreted through ceramic and stone.

For the foyer, Turnbull produced two large abstract wall paintings at opposite ends of the space. Painting in situ onto smooth plaster surfaces created directly on the brickwork, she referenced historic hand drawn architectural drawings from the College archive and Haworth Tompkins’ computer aided digital drawings. The staircase imagery is cut up, enlarged and reordered into layered abstractions, extending the visual language of the courtyard into the building. Viewed from Chiu Court, the paintings establish a quiet dialogue between interior and exterior, reinforcing the spatial rhythm of the development.

The commissions were complemented by a wider public engagement programme, including an inaugural exhibition, talks, workshops and Tender Stones, a new performance by choreographer Lucy Suggate marking the public opening of the site.

Images: Courtyard Garden, Chiu Court by Alison Turnbull and Kurosh Davis, ‘Up and Down in the Void (Painting A)’ & ‘Up and Down in the Void (Painting B)’ by Alison Turnbull.
Photographs: Keith Heppel, courtesy of Pembroke College and the artist