Ascot Racecourse

In the early 2000s, Brian Clarke conceived a 27,000-square-foot stained glass window, made with ceramic-glaze printing on float glass, for the Ascot Grandstand in Berkshire, England. The Great South Window was intended to be an integral part of the racecourse and of the experience of Ascot itself. Clarke developed this major installation through sketches, watercolour paintings, collages, drawn studies, computer visualisations and the construction of models.

The project received royal approval as part of the Ascot redevelopment, and glass samples were fabricated and exhibited at the Nash Conservatory in Kew Gardens. Unforeseen, unrelated complications in the construction of the Grandstand itself, however, rendered the completion and installation of the artwork impracticable.

Out of this unrealised scheme Clarke developed Lamina, a monumental, independent sculptural stained glass artwork first installed at Gagosian Gallery in 2005.