In a groundbreaking collaboration between artist and architect, the anodised aluminium cladding of Bramah House and Woods House became a giant canvas for painter Claire Woods.

Make Architects identified the need to texture the cladding so that it captured and reflected light. They worked with Futurecity to develop proposals for an embedded artwork.

Woods took inspiration from her photos of the surrounding historic buildings, the railway, heritage dock, and the historic lime trees which had once lined the dockside. Her finished design – a semi-abstract image that shadows the trees and the old pumping station chimney was blown up in scale and etched onto the aluminium cladding.

Clare worked closely with Make to blow up and transpose her designs onto the façade of the residential block, through a process of etching onto its anodised aluminium panel. The vast etched façade now responds to changes of natural light as it hits different areas of the surface throughout the day.

The design collaboration inspired other opportunities for the building, including the idea of ‘driftwood’ balcony rails and laser cut balcony panels influenced by Woods' drawings.