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| Waterwindow - Priory Place - Coventry |
| Title: | Waterwindow |
| Date: | 1998 - 2003 |
| Description: | Waterfall, window, copper wall and pool |
| Dimensions: | 5.5 x 29 x 15 metres |
| Location: | South side of Priory Place, Coventry at the boundary with Priory Gardens |
| Waterfall: | Drop from spillway 5metres, width 4.5metres, flow rate 3.5 cubic metres per minute |
| Window: | Aperture on garden side: 1.095m high x 1.107m wide
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| Wall: | 26.7 metres long and 5.5 metres high on the pool side |
| Pool: | Granite pool base 200 sq metres |
| Client: | Coventry City Council. The Phoenix Initiative – a Millennium Urban Regeneration scheme |
| Architects: | McCormac Jamieson Prichard |
| Landscape Architects: | Robert Rummey Associates |
| Artist's project management: | Hogben and Hale Architects |
| Commissioning Agency: | Hogben and Hale Architects |
| Contractor: | Balfour Beatty |
| Copper wall and spillway: | The Sculpture Factory |
| Pool-base granite: | |
| Awards: | RIBA Award 2004 |
| Feature: | art-public.com See www.art-public.com |
Artists Statement
Waterwindow is a spatial work of sound and light responding to the dividing wall between Priory Garden and Priory Place. It makes use of the fall in the land and emphasises the change in level between the gardens and the square, forming the southern side of the Priory Place. The work comprises a noisy torrent of water projected in front of a deep copper-lined angled window and copper screen. The water falls into a triangular reflecting-pool which is paved with large slabs of black and white granite cut precisely to the artist's design by computerised waterjet. The pool base incorporates a series of circular stainless steel grilles and a simple inlaid 'drawing' designed to interact with the movement of the water.
JOURNEY, SOUND AND LIGHT
At the corner of Priory Garden you first hear the sound of rushing water through the window opening ahead of you and see a curtain of water falling behind it. Looking through the window you find that the aperture magnifies the sound and acts as an 'ear' to the waterfall in Priory Place. The interior of the window is obliquely angled to channel your view and begin to draw you down the path along the wall and down the walkway into Priory Place.
At certain times a patch of sunlight falls through the window and floats on the waterfall reflecting the artists preoccupation with the day and the passing of time. At dusk the work is illuminated to create reflected light and luminous water for the busy square.
COPPER
The copper has been patinated green and will develop over the years in response to the waterfall recording the subtle tracery of falling water.
© Susanna Heron August 2002
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