Project: ( 3348 ) Goodmans Fields
Client: Berkeley Group
Sculptor: Hamish Mackie
Landscape Atelier: Murdoch Wickham
Services: Mock up / Design and Build
Installation: 2015 – 2016
Project Description
Situated approximately half a mile from Tower Bridge, the Tower of London and The Gherkin, Goodmans Fields is a multi-award winning development that includes coffee shops, restaurants, bars, a hotel and 1038 stunning residential apartments in two acres of beautiful gardens, complete with six bronze horses and water features that won the PMSA Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Fountains in 2016.
Designed by sculptor Hamish Mackie, the Goodmans Fields Horses are inspired by the London livery that existed in the same location in 1598. Incorporating an Andalusian Stallion, Russian Cross Arab, European Warmblood, Irish Cob, Thoroughbred Cross Shire and Thoroughbred, this award winning public art compliments the past and present, highlighting London’s rich equine history and gratitude for a city that was originally built by man and horse alone.
Challenge:
Ustigate were commissioned to design and install animated water features that would bring the Goodmans Fields Horses to life. Additionally, an attractive cascading water feature was designed and installed to sit amongst Murdoch Wickham’s beautifully landscaped spaces on the first floor.
Success:
Research, mock up testing, and great collaborative team work enabled the Goodmans Fields project to be completed to the highest specification. Hamish’s vision for Goodmans Fields Horses was delivered with remarkable attention to detail, resulting in a lifelike appearance in fruition.
To enable the mock up testing at Ustigate’s testing facility in Kent, Hamish created GRP water interface parts of the horse’s hooves and belly. A range of jets were trialled to replicate the water interactions associated with horses galloping through shallow water and a horse wading through water up to its middle. The final installation includes a pumping system that produces a pulsing effect against the horse’s belly and custom built hoof jets that produce the most realistic water effects for the horses escaping at speed through shallow water. The mock up testing enabled calculations of the spray zones to ensure all water would be retained in the pool area, and true to life water effects to accompany the Goodmans Fields Horses through their various stages of movement, and differing water depths.
Goodmans Fields Horses was one of Hamish Mackie’s biggest commissions to date, and his first public art project. To put this in prospective, Hamish used six and a half tonnes of clay to create the Goodmans Fields Horses in six months and would normally use 250kg clay per year.
Nancy Minshull-Beech’s observations, knowledge and experience in completing similar horse herd artwork installations in the past was invaluable and appreciated. Nancy Minshull-Beech is trained in silver and blacksmithing with a BA from The University of the Arts, Camberwell, London and a MA in the History of Art from Cambridge, which included first class dissertations in Modern Architecture and Public Art.
Goodmans Fields is a great place for people to congregate, work and dwell with a Hamish Mackie story to tell:
“The spirit and movement of livery horses running loose through the streets of London before being stopped at Leman Street in 1598.”
Project References:
Click here to discover more about Hamish Mackie, Goodmans Fields Horses and the 2016 Marsh Award
Click here to discover more about Murdoch Wickham and Goodmans Fields Awards
