Circle of Life, Langley Events Centre

A circular gathering-space motif portraying the Circle of Life, designed by Drew and Elinor Atkins of Spring Salmon Studio and installed in StreetBond across the plaza at Langley Events Centre.

'Circle of Life' fills a circle in the forecourt of the Langley Events Centre, the first surface every visitor walks across. The artists, Drew Atkins and Elinor Atkins of Spring Salmon Studio, were commissioned to make a permanent installation that grounds the arrival at the building in the cultural context of the land it stands on. Circular motifs in the artists' tradition speak to continuity, ceremony and interdependence.

It is rendered in StreetBond, a water-based acrylic pavement coating. The manufacturer publishes more than fifty standard colours with custom mixing, and custom tones were mixed here to match the artists' specification sheets. Test panels were run on site and the artists reviewed them in daylight before the full install went ahead. Centre-lines for the circular pattern were plotted onto the real surface and the colour boundaries masked so each edge stayed crisp under a coating that self-levels as it cures.

The photographs show the circle on the pale plaza with the stadium lights and grandstand behind it, and from above: a blue profile at the centre, ringed by forms in orange, green and teal. The manufacturer publishes StreetBond with an anti-skid aggregate and an 8+ year life cycle, recoated rather than replaced. A civic body commissioning an artist-led surface should ask for colour matched to the artist's sheets and for panels the artist signs off on site.

Read the full story: Circle of Life: a StreetBond install at Langley Events Centre