At the end of 2015, Susan was engaged by Highland Hospice, and enlisted award-winning designer Donna Wilson to collaborate on the interior of a new building designed by Ian Clarke of JDDK Architects.  Project involved developing a sensitive and integrated design approach for the new hospice building – Highland Hospice – which serves the whole of the Highlands and Islands.

As well as collaborating on the overall vision, Susan identified a small team of artists/designers to be involved whilst the building was still being constructed to work together to create bespoke furniture, textiles, series of windows and other special features, flooring and poetry ‘Suilven’ by Melanie Challenger that gently encourages better flow through the building.

One of the most fundamentally important aspects of the whole design process was defining a colour scheme for the whole building. Donna Wilson describes her thoughts:

‘For the hospice, the design ‘feel’ needed to be welcoming, cosy and comfortable as well as an inspiring place to be, for the patients, their families and the incredible staff.

One of the most important things is the colour palette - the colours have been designed to be friendly and warm, a breath of life into a space that connects with nature and gives us a feeling of familiarity and home’.

Art + design team: Donna Wilson, Susan Christie, Erlend Tait, Darren Barclay, Melanie Challenger and Jennifer Cantwell.

Photography by Colin Heggie and Iain Sarjeant.