Lullaby Factory

Having been volunteering for Great Ormond Street Hospital for over 2 years, I did not realise that there was an interactive art installation was there in the hospital. The installation being the Lullaby Factory. The installation was created by Studio Weave and was installed In October 2012 on the east side of the Southwood Building.

The installation is not usually open for view for the public and can be accessed on a tour during the Open House weekend. It can be viewed from the Morgan Stanley Clinical Building and the courtyard of the Lagoon canteen of the hospital.

Hurmurmuring Transmitters

A competition was held to create a new landscape or change the façade of the existing side of the Southwood Building.  Studio Weave came in with the winning entry which proposed a line of pipes and a plant that manufactured lullabies to the children who were the patients at the hospital, created a calming and soothing environment for the patients to recover in. The project was funded by GOSH as part of the investment in the Morgan Stanley Clinical Building.

They decided not to cover up the pipe works, which would have shielded the sun from getting in from the building. So proposed to add on to the pipes as well as used up the tight space, at some points were 1 metre apart between the buildings, from the Southwood Building to the Morgan Stanley Clinical Building. It soon became the Lullaby Factory, celebrating the quirks and oddities of the hospital and a re-imagining of a better version of itself.

Jessica Curry composed the lullaby which can be heard from the listening pipes of the Hurmurmuring Transmitters found in the courtyard of the Lagoon and on the radio frequencies on the Patient Beside Entertainment System.

The installation was awarded AR&D Award for Emerging Architecture 2013, Civic Trust Award 2014, Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture 2014, and a special mention in the Highly Commended Architizer Architecture and Art Award 2015.

The Lullaby Factory comes with an accompanying story. In 1852, the great, great, great, great grandfather of Mr Lambert Echo created the Lullaby Factory. It was created with two main compenents that collect the base ingredients for the lullabies:

• Whistful Fillment Filaments - Scopes the air for wishes (most important ingredient)
• Satellite Lilters - captures the “planetary music” of music and dreams that go undetected and is stems through into the Lilters as they sing with their “Lollips”

The Whisskissing Bristles captures the already sung lullabies in the air which have nothing to do and combine them together to form new lullabies using the idle lulls which contains the shared wisdom of lullabies through the ages. The Lullabuildser takes these combined pieces and perfect their forms.

The Pickled Picture Peeper allows views of the composition of the lullaby to check if the lullaby is perfect. If they are not, it is passed through Echogs which the lullbaby are adjusted by balancing the different elements. Sonorous Syrup are added to help build the dreams that eases the sleepies to a blissful sleep.

In the Serenitwinckler, Auranoments are added which gives the lullaby a magical flavour which are then elongated into a slow long form. Come out as small bubbles called Humabubs. Put through the Lollobubble Looper which is then stretched and folded into long looping lazes with its Concording Oars. Stored in the Amber Chambers ready to be used when needed.

It is delivered when one of the sleepies send out a Snoozesity signal, which are picked up by the Wistings Lisper. The Wistings Lisper releases a Fluentoots that pushes the lullabies out from the Amber Chambers upon picking up the signal, which are then delivered to the sleepy through the delivery trumpets.

The reason for sleepies often not remembering the lullabies is because the lullaby is sent to them during the moments when they are moving slowly into Dreamlands, which the lullaby helps ensure that they have a blissful dream.

#LullabyFactory