William Pye Water Scupture

Starbursts At The Sainsbury Laboratory, Cambridge

The Sainsbury Laboratory is a plant research centre completed in 2011, set in the University of Cambridge's Botanic Garden.

Four Starbursts have been set at ground level within the paving in the central courtyard. Water is jetted from below and bursts onto discs of glass, where the droplets cling on and travel outwards, and eventually drop away. A beam of light is directed upwards within the jet and a ring of LED lights around the circumference, with programmable colour changes, illuminate the water across the glass.

I was one of three artists commissioned to make an artwork for the Laboratory, which was designed by Stanton Williams Architects.