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Digiglass Interlayers: Rosewood Aged Care, Perth
Rosewood Aged Care in Leederville WA, embodies a different approach to aged care – with the facility surrounded in beautiful artwork, on arrival and present throughout the building. The unrivalled visual experience immerses each resident in an inspiring and pleasing environment, with the art installations working to redefine aged care as a positive and uplifting experience.
Cameron Chisholm Nicol was appointed to lead the redevelopment of the 5454sqm Cleaver St site to restore and maintain the heritage listed Florence Hummerston Lodge, whilst replacing the existing 52-bed facility with a purpose built 152-bed residential high care facility.
The material palette speaks to the historical vernacular of the site, decorative perforated panels and timber battens reference the traditional cast iron tracery and timber details evident in the domestic verandah.
The built form is arranged around Florence Hummerston Lodge and creates a sequence of courtyard spaces framed by a street cafe, resident lounge and entry sequence into Rosewood. The entry sequence is framed by extensive printed glass canopies designed by renowned local artist Lorenna Grant. The vibrant, full colour glass canopies celebrate the history and narrative of the site and mediate between the public and private realm.
Lorenna’s artistic ambitions are realised with DigiGlass Printed Interlayers, creating high resolution images in vibrant, large format full colour.
An X-ray photography process captured an incredible level of detail in the source imagery
From conception, Rosewood Aged Care was designed along principles of artistic integrity. ‘Back in 2018, I was commissioned to create a series of artworks throughout the Rosewood Aged Care facility in Leederville, West Perth,’ she says. ‘That assignment included creating two large-scale sculptures on entry as well as artworks for a glass canopy, glass balcony balustrading, and glass front and basement doors.’ ‘I also created several artworks etched into the decking of the heritage house, which forms the entry to the original heritage building central to the development,’ she says. ‘A smaller, 3D work based on meal tins was also installed on the external wall as part of the display for residents. The meal tins were part of a service for the aged from this site back in the 1950’s.
Lorenna had the idea of creating a series of artworks that reflected the optimism she was striving for within the centre itself. ‘Each of the artworks were based on a core idea of seeing the inner beauty in each person as we age,’ she says ‘To create these images, I used an x-ray machine usually used for mammograms, to photograph heritage roses’ Lorenna continues. ‘What you see in the rose images throughout the centre is an incredible level of detail which you simply don’t see when you glance at a rose day-to-day.
‘In creating these images, I wanted to expose the “inner workings” of these flowers and essentially tune into the “frequency” of these roses. In doing so, I felt I was able to see and experience the beauty of the flowers from a more internal and reflective lense. From there, I retouched the x-rays I’d made and added colour to them. They were the foundation of the art produced to manufacture the DigiGlass® now adorning a number of areas throughout the centre.’
DigiGlass is a large-format CMYK process which can reproduce full-colour photography, graphics, and textures with superior light fastness and extreme weather performance. The printing process involves direct application of ink in full or single colour designs, in either a solid colour or stipple. Lorenna’s vibrant petal designs are reproduced in vibrant purples and pinks in incredible detail.
"Being able to convey my designs with such clarity has been a joy, as everything I intended has been faithfully translated. For me, there is feeling of inner success, a kind of gratitude, that arrives whenever I see a person walking up to the building, walking in wonder."
LORENNA GRANT
Visual Artist
