Timber Square: Shortlisted Artists
“A new public sculpture in the creative and cultural heart of Bankside”
Hive Curates in partnership with Landsec are pleased to announce: Timber Square, an exciting upcoming public realm project, encouraging innovation and sustainability in Southwark. Currently in motion and set to be completed in early 2026, the commissioned sculpture will serve as a new landmark and dynamic social hub for the local community.
Initiated earlier this spring, the Timber Square Open Call, invited artists and creative studios to submit an expression of interest, encouraging proposals to explore Southwark’s rich history and vibrant cultural landscape as inspiration. From over 50 exciting and innovative expressions of interest, the judging panel has now shortlisted 5 artists and creative studios, who have been awarded an honorarium to develop their proposals, including: Amelia Bowles, Fung + Bedford Design Studio, Clare Burnett, Lucy Gregory and Mi Ding. The final artist will be awarded the commission to create a sculpture that captivates a sense of arrival, echoing the area’s industrial, creative and cultural heritage, by embracing a sense of otherness, joviality and an unexpected element of play.
Timber Square is the first of its kind in Bankside, Timber Square’s first phase is one of Europe’s most exciting net zero development projects, helping pioneer the use of cross-laminated timber (CLT) in the UK. The project will deliver 380,000 sq ft of modern work, retail and leisure space and targets net zero emissions in both construction and operation. The public sculpture will create a new landmark for Southwark and reflect sustainable innovation of the development.
With the final proposals and maquettes now submitted for review, the judging panel, composed of Hive Curates and Landsec, expects to award this monumental commission next month, with production commencing this Autumn.
Celebrating the driving forces of design, innovation and collaboration behind the Timber Square project, Hive Curates and Landsec invite members of the public to explore an exhibition, showcasing the 5 shortlisted artists’ proposals and artworks. Hosted at Timber Square marketing suite, 5-11 Lavington St, London SE1 0NZ, summer 2025 (dates TBC/ by appointment only).
Shortlisted Proposals
Mi Ding: Stellaris
Stellaris continues Southwark’s legacy of print, exploring physical media, material output and industrial production, reimagined through contemporary design and material transformation.
The work explores how printed matter can move beyond the flat surface to explore structure, space, and light, offering a new kind of public interaction: Immersive, visual, and spatial. In a site once defined by output and industry, Stellaris introduces a new gateway to the public square.
Amelia Bowles: Future Press, Past Exposures
From the early printing presses that were larger than human, to the first construction cranes that moved giant stacks of timber, Future Press, Past Exposures celebrates the architecture of the industrial past at Timber Square. As each square warps like wood, they fold into paper-like wings that feel as if they are flying hot off the press. The reflective golden surfaces will mirror their surroundings, etching the future. As the industrial structure reaches towards the sky, it will cast a display of shadows, inking memories of the past on the ground.
Fung + Bedford Design Studio: Into The Fold
Into the Fold is a bold, playful sculpture rooted in the joyful discipline of origami. Crafted from recycled Corten, it embraces Bankside’s rich material heritage—timber, ink, and print—through form and finish. Each facet evokes the sharp creases of folded paper, reimagining the quills of Shakespeare, the copper plates of early printing, and the timber shavings from the timber yard in a contemporary, durable language.
Lucy Gregory: A Page Turner
A Page Turner, is an interactive, kinetic sculpture where page-like fins reminiscent of glossy magazines are positioned up a series of vertical axles. The viewer turns the printing press-style industrial handles to slowly spin the axles - revealing new images and a dynamic visual display through the complete rotation.
The sculpture compliments the architecture by creating a vantage point that dramatically reaches upwards towards the sky as a central focal point in between the Print and Ink building either side. The inviting ‘funnel’ of the architecture adds dramatic visual perspective encouraging audiences to interact.
Clare Burnett: Seedlinks
Seedlinks features three brightly coloured, handmade sculptures built from over 44,000 individually placed glass tiles, inspired by the rich heritage of Timber Square — the 19th-century timber yard, the Printworks, and the Roman mosaic found nearby in 2023. Embracing an element of play and connection to the landscaped greenery, these freestanding and organic sculptures will reach nearly 4 metres.