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Colour Strategy for 256 Grays Inn Road

This mural of the History of the Royal Free Hospital and School of Medicine by William Utermohlen (1933–2007) was the design inspiration for the colour palette being developed for 256 Grays Inn Road.

The History of the Royal Free Hospital and School of Medicine by William Utermohlen, 1985
 
 

The colour palette has been developed by architects Hawkins\Brown and is based around three main concepts:

Bringing the outside in

The aim is to provide a connection to nature throughout the building for both staff and patients to improve health and well being 

Marrying the old and new

The aim is to celebrate the Alexandra Wing and prompt a reminder to the historical importance of the site through careful considerate detailing and use of materials 

Home from Home

Through understanding the needs of both patients and staff, the aim is to provide pockets of space that provide familiar domestic envrioment to rest, recuperate and re-energise

Choice of Materials

Softer shades of colours and natural materials have been selected as the base palette for the overall building interior design. This works in harmony with the external building material, and provides a more neutral backdrop for various building activities to take place.

The proposed colour palette at Grays Inn Road

This will be enhanced by stronger shades of colours introduced at key moments through upholstery to loose furniture, or colours inside individual meeting rooms, providing focal points.

The range of interior finishes for general office areas at 256 Grays Inn Road

Design Inspiration

The colour strategy stems from the works of the late William Utermohlen, an artist born in South Philadelphia in 1933. Utermohlen studied at the Ruskin School of Art in Oxford in 1957-58. In 1962 he settled in London, where he met his wife, an art historian, Patricia Redmond. London life and characters have most particularly marked his numerous portraits which constitute one of the richest aspects of his work.


In the 1980s he painted two major murals for two great North-London institutions, the Liberal Jewish Synagogue at Saint John’s Wood and the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead.

In 1995 Utermohlen was diagnosed as suffering from Alzheimer disease. The last works of William Utermohlen constitute a rare testimony to the inner life of a patient suffering from Alzheimer disease in which his technique was increasingly affected by the symptoms of dementia as they unfolded. The neuro-pathological aspects of the late works are therefore a unique clinical journal of the evolution of the cognitive disorders of his disease.

 William Utermohlen self portraits

William Utermohlen has a clear link to both the Royal Free Hospital and dementia. Hawkins\Brown used his Royal Free Hospital mural to source colours for the building, choosing colours which connected to their overall strategy; connection to nature, relationship to the existing building and creating a domestic environment.

If you’d like to find out more about the colour strategy or would like to visit 256 Grays Inn Road to see colour samples, please get in touch