Camberwell Art College students will help design the hospital’s interior Photo: Sarah Case

Students of Camberwell College of Arts are coming up with design ideas for a new critical care unit at King’s College Hospital.

King’s College Hospital is celebrating 100 years and is planning to expand its critical care unit. In order to get Camberwell College of Arts integrated further into the Southwark community, students were asked to propose design ideas for the new unit.

The project is open to all BA and MA students. They are going to work together with Acrylicize, an art consultancy based in Shoreditch, to offer ideas that should not only be seen as pieces of art but improve the overall patient experience as well. King’s College Hospital has set some certain rules regarding to the design of the new unit. Students have been notified that visual environment can affect some patients and even influence dreaming and hallucinations, thus designers have to be careful.

Students at Camberwell College of Arts are glad to be given such an opportunity. The winning artist is predicted to get widely noticed because of the large scale and high specification of the project. Emily Ford, an illustration student at Camberwell, said: “This is one of the great things about studying here, there are always so many great opportunities and competitions for students to progress their creative careers. It seems like this particular project will really be a stepping stone for the winner.”

Nick Gorse, Dean of Camberwell, who is working hard to incorporate students into the local community, sees this as a “fantastic project”, full of advantages to both students and everyone else living in London borough of Southwark. He stated: “It’s all about using students and alumni to work within the community and what’s around us to help develop things and give back.” Arts London News