Jim Allen was commissioned to create this mural for the foyer of the new Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) office block while working at the University of Auckland’s Elam School of Fine Arts. Comprising 36 cast concrete panels, it pays homage to the micro-structure of naturally occurring copper and calcium crystals: a carefully considered site-specific reference as the commissioning body was a large British chemical company.

The words on the original plaque for the work stated: “The composition of the mural, which is cast in concrete, was developed from a microscopic study of a crystalline matrix of copper and calcium carbonates - two of the many naturally occurring compounds upon which the chemical industry is built."

The building was designed by the Australian firm Stephenson & Turner, with interiors by Guy Ngan, who was an Associate Partner at the firm’s Wellington offices at the time.

On 14 November 2016 a 7.8 magnitude earthquake, with hundreds of aftershocks, created widespread damage throughout Wellington City. Located on Molesworth Street in central Wellington, ICI House was damaged to the point of being at risk of collapse. Ten days later demolition of the building commenced, however the sculptural relief was saved: protected by a reinforced concrete arch and shipping containers that were placed in front of the mural.

See also:

• Susan Hedges, ‘Interior Decoration to Exterior Surface: The Beleaguered Relief’, Interiority, 2019, Vol. 2, No. 1, 79-93 DOI: 10.7454/in.v2i1.45