The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation that exists to improve health for everyone. They support scientists and researchers, take on big problems, fuel imaginations and spark debate. Pentagram has collaborated with Wellcome and its scientists to create a window installation that inspires people to consider the importance of genomics.
Since the completion of the Human Genome 15 years ago, technology is rapidly advancing, and many important reference genomes have been sequenced. All of these have offered up important insights about health, and help us learn about diseases and how to treat them. Pentagram’s installation is designed to demystify genomics, and help the general public’s understanding of the science behind it.
The vinyl supergraphics translate a pattern from Huntington’s Disease into an eye-catching sequence of colourful stripes, each representing an amino acid (protein building block) and the different DNA sequences (codons) that produce it. Stretching across just over 51 metres of the building’s windows, the mutation in the sequence becomes clearer as the viewer navigates the display.
The modern aesthetic of the graphics reflects the scientific advancements of our age. The translucent vinyl application was chosen to evoke associations with stained-glass clad places of worship; celebrating the Wellcome Trust as a place of scientific reverence, and shining a light on genomics and its role in the healing of illness and disease.
The foundation’s building is on the corner of two major London roads – Euston Road and Gower Street – and its windows face directly onto the pavement on both sides. With advertising space in London coming at a premium, the Wellcome window offers a priceless opportunity to capture public attention in a creative, engaging and imaginative way.
The installation will run for around six months.
