Neonatal Unit Enhancements, Birmingham Heartlands Hospital

 

 

 

Firecatcher were delighted to design a scheme for the Neonatal Ward at Heartlands Hospital, Birmingham. Through a ‘Secret Garden’ theme we explored nature and the idea of the garden being a safe, calm place where things can grow and bloom. We created designs that evoked a sense of calm, curiosity and a feeling of wellbeing with a touch of humour.

Taking inspiration from the Secret Garden book, we created enhancements that would not only decorate the space, but create areas of interest and detail for the parents and the staff who are spending long periods of time in one area. Small details are woven into the leaves for people to spot including little creatures as well as some nice inspirational words and messages of hope.

As well as brightening up the space, a number of enhancements were used as informative devices; encouraging hand washing, presenting health and hospital information, and way-finding.

The colour palette chosen uses a selection of calming, complimentary colours which when used in combination with the neutral wall space create a friendly and contemporary look.

Click here to visit our facebook album and see all the photos.

Dolphin Ward Enhancements - Royal Derby Hospital

Oh to be under the sea!  We loved creating these calming, decorative enhancements for Dolphin Ward in Royal Derby Hospital.  The tranquil tones, incredible sea creatures and swirling waves were a pleasure to work on, and were installed in 8 bedrooms and corridors throughout the Unit.  If you'd like to see some more photos, click here for our facebook album!

Derby Hospital's Newest Jungle...

 

 

 

Our latest, jungle-themed enhancements at Derby Hospital! With limited wall space, tropical birds and sleepy animals were designed to run along the top of the walls so the children could lie in bed and spot the different brightly coloured beasts at their leisure!  We like to think they watch over them and send them pleasant dreams too.

Click here to see the facebook photo album! 

Sunshine Deck, Royal Derby Hospital

Yesterday saw the opening of the newly refurbished Sunshine Deck at Royal Derby Hospital's Children's Unit.  We were asked to create a scheme of vinyls to cover the windows surrounding the deck, using the existing colours on site.

We used a range of brightly coloured transparent vinyls to create a contemporary, fun geometric design that was suitable for the wide age group that would use the unit.  We overlapped the vinyls to create new shades and a sense of depth for the compositions.

Some areas of the scheme needed to be fully printed, so we developed a number of games to allow the children to interact with the artwork, including a board game style illustration, encouraging the children to play creatively.  Oh, and pull a silly face.

An alphabet ran along several other boards, also using the geometric style.

In all, we covered over 35 panels with Firecatcher artwork, creating a vibrant, fun and modern space for playing.

Heartlands Hospital - Journey into Space!

Our intrepid explorers James, Lois and Reg continue their adventures from the PAU Ward and now journey into SPACE! This scheme of enhancements follows their story as they graduate from Space Academy, build a rocket and explore the stars. The designs follow them around the galaxy as the meet new friends, take part in a space race and play football on the moon!

In the press...

We were front cover of the Bolton Journal recently regarding the work we're doing with Royal Bolton Hospital. We're producing some enhancements for their new Paediatric Ward and have been working with the children and patients to establish what kind of theme they would like to see. More updates on our progress in the coming months!

Sunflowers, Ladybirds and all things Puffin

Here's the latest work from Derby Royal Hospital, this time we painted a corridor linking the previous murals we'd done in the Emergency Department with the Children's Wards. This time there were no seagulls but a puffin ward, ladybird, sunflower and dolphin and kite themes to include. We decided on a sunflower growing competition as the story, with puffins and ladybirds entering various sunflowers, some cheating! The dolphin aspect was added in the form of the dolphin cup presented by Peter Porpoise, the mayor of Herring Beach.



Two ladybirds cross as their cooking pot's being used to grow a rather nice sunflower!

A puffin hastily paints on a sunflower just before the judge arrives, two outraged ladybirds stand astonished.
The cheek of it!




The very official looking Mayor... Peter.



A very ladylike ladybird waters her teacup flower with her spotted teapot.




The prestigious Dolphin Cup with various photographs of past winners. To the right of the image are the parachuting ladybirds from the flying kite.



To the right side of the picture... More cheaters! This time ladybirds seek to fool the judges with their sunflower compiled of 'green things' including a sunflower spread lid.



One end of the corridor was decorated with wildflower illustrations using flat colours and subtle tones to create a more graphic but calming effect whilst still including the sunflowers.

Return of the Seagull

Last week saw us back in Derby, this time painting the outside of the Children's Emergency Department. It was a little different for us, using the different paints, painting on a very bobbly wall and the use of a rather high scaffold, but still good fun!
Warren, Shrimpy, Puffball and Crabby help direct people in in their own unique way!

As well as the outside, we also did a little more work inside on a corridor that connects to the rest of the hospital. The brief for this was more seagulls, but to incorporate the other various wards we had to include puffins, ladybirds and sunflowers!


Indiana LadyJones runs away from a boulder of wool!

A & E opens tomorrow...

The Children's Emergency Department is having its grand opening (well, sort of) at 2am tomorrow, and our work is featured on the front page of the Derbyshire Telegraph ... http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/news/cut-wait-times-new-e/article-1003229-detail/article.html

We're very excited about the prospect of the public seeing our work for the first time and would like to wish all staff and patients a very successful and stress-free move. I wonder who will be the first to find the Dr. Who Seagull in the X ray..?

Seagulls invade the Children's Emergency Department!

Here's a few photos from the Derby Children's Emergency Department, more to follow!...