During the design stages of an office and residential development for Royal London Asset Management on Dover Street, Mayfair, we were involved in the commissioning process for a new artwork inside an existing passageway on the perimeter of our site – a well-used shortcut linking Dover Street to Berkeley Street and Dover Yard.

Jason Bruges Studio, which was formed in 2002 and quickly secured a strong reputation for designing interactive lighting installations, was commissioned to create a responsive installation in the passageway which would animate and enliven the route.

The artwork – named Shortcut – is a permanent and dynamic installation which responds to the different speeds, rhythms and concentration of people in the alley, with a flowing pattern of light building up in the passageway reflecting recent movement.

Using evenly spaced recessed uplights in the paving and real-time thermal imaging, each light fitting increases in intensity as an individual passes by creating a wave of light washing across the walls of the passageway recalling pedestrians' movements through the space. When there are no pedestrians the lights dim to a low brightness to save energy while also providing a safe level of illumination.