''Paternoster Vents'', sometimes referred to as simply ''Vents'' and also known as ''Angel's Wings'', is an outdoor 2002 stainless steel sculpture by

Thomas Heatherwick Thomas Alexander Heatherwick, (born 17 February 1970) is an English designer and the founder of London-based design practice Heatherwick Studio. He works with a team of around 200 architects, designers and makers from a studio and workshop in ...

, installed on the west side of the

Paternoster Square Paternoster Square is an urban development, owned by the Mitsubishi Estate, next to St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London. The area, which takes its name from Paternoster Row, once centre of the London publishing trade, was devastated by aer ...

development in London, United Kingdom, close to the junction of Warwick Lane and

Ave Maria Lane Ave Maria Lane is a street in the City of London, to the west of St. Paul's Cathedral. It is the southern extension of Warwick Lane, between Amen Corner and Ludgate Hill. On the feastday of Corpus Christi, monks would say prayers in a proces ...

with Amen Corner. The sculpture provides ventilation for an underground

electrical substation A substation is a part of an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or perform any of several other important functions. Between the generating station and ...

. It has been described by ''The Guardian'' as "one of Thomas Heatherwick’s earliest and most successful projects". It won

Design and Art Direction Design and Art Direction (D&AD), formerly known as British Design and Art Direction, is a British educational organisation that was created in 1962 to promote excellence in design and advertising. Its main offices are in Spitalfields in London. I ...

s' "wood pencil" award for design in 2002.Paternoster Vents
D&AD Awards 2002 Pencil Winner, dandad.org The sculpture was commissioned by Stanhope and

Mitsubishi Estate is one of the largest real-estate developers in Japan and is involved in property management and architecture research and design. As of 2018, Mitsubishi Estate has the most valuable portfolio in the Japanese real estate industry, with a total ...

, who jointly developed the Paternoster Square site, to provide ventilation for a subsurface electrical substation with four electricity

transformer A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...

s under Bishop’s Court on the west side of the development. Thomas Heatherwick's design reduces the physical mass of the structure as originally conceived, with metal grilles integrated into the paving allow ingress of cool air, with warm air flowing out through the two tall vents which form wings that mirror each other. Each wing comprises 63 isosceles triangles of stainless steel about thick, assembled into a

monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...

helical form that stands about high. The design was inspired by

origami ) is the Japanese paper art, art of paper folding. In modern usage, the word "origami" is often used as an inclusive term for all folding practices, regardless of their culture of origin. The goal is to transform a flat square sheet of pape ...

experiments from folding pieces of A4 paper. The outer surface was given a satin finish by shot blasting with glass beads. File:Large modern metal sculptures, Warwick Lane - Amen Corner, EC4 (2) - geograph.org.uk - 1274658.jpg, Sculpture at night in 2009 File:Vents Paternoster Lane (14220559857).jpg, Sculpture in 2014

References

Vents
paternostersquare.info
Paternoster Vents
Heatherwick Studio
London Public Art: The Paternoster Vents
ianvisits.co.uk
Secret Worlds Hidden Beneath Surface Structures
The Historic England Blog, heritagecalling.com
Designer Thomas Heatherwick
(architectsjournal.co.uk)
Vents (Angel Wings)
artuk.org
Paternoster Vents
packmanlucas.co.uk

External links

* {{Public art in London, other works 2002 establishments in England 2002 sculptures Buildings and structures in the City of London Outdoor sculptures in London Stainless steel sculptures Steel sculptures in England

See also

References

External links