What’s with the squid on the windows?
Located next door to the Koerner Pavilion at UBC Hospital (UBCH), The Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health (Centre for Brain Health) is nearing completion. On the north windows, an intricate design is visible and has some people scratching their heads. What’s with the squid on the windows?
Inside looking out: Here, we see the window artwork of brain cells from inside the Centre for Brain Health.
To answer people’s questions (and put some people’s fears to rest!), we’re happy to report that the artwork doesn’t depict squid but instead brain cells — pyramidal cells and round stellate cells, to be exact. According to the Brain Research Centre’s newsletter:
“The design depicts two types of brain cells—pyramidal cells with dendritic spines, which appear vertically in the design, and round stellate cells, which are interconnected in the design. The white, translucent circles that fill the design are varied in size and density to create spatial depth when viewing the artwork from within the building or from afar. The circle shape was used to help make the design stand out and to represent the volume of data being transferred between brain cells.”
Learn more
Read our latest issue of our Of One Mind Newsletter and learn more about activities at the Centre for Brain Health, and our timeline for relocating clinics to this unique facility.