‘Hatch’

Client: Turnstone Estates, Savills, St John’s College, University of Cambridge for Place Services
Creative Team: Acrylicize, 2018
Location: Sir Maurice Wilkes Building, St John’s Innovation Park, Cambridge.

The artwork ‘Hatch’ has been designed by Acrylicize and looks to celebrate the significant achievements of Sir Maurice Wilkes within the development of computers. Sir Wilkes studied mathematics at Cambridge, later becoming Emeritus Professor at the University of Cambridge’s Computer Laboratory. Sir Maurice has been called the father of British computing; amongst his many achievements was the design and creation of Edsac, a computer that ran its first program in May 1949. The Cambridge machine was the first widely-useable stored programme machine and was very influential in the embryonic British computer industry.

‘Hatch’ is prominently positioned at the southern entrance of the new facility for knowledge-based businesses, the location holding a commanding position on one of the main routes into the City of Cambridge. The three-sectioned, facetted egg form represents the birth of new ideas at the park, whilst the binary code etched through the form provides coded information about Sir Maurice Wilkes and his contribution to computing.