NorteShopping Centre

In 1995, Brian Clarke designed a scheme of 24 stained glass rooflights and a monumental ceiling mosaic for NorteShopping, a mall in Rio de Janeiro. At the time, this was his largest composition, and one of the largest urban public art commissions in Brazil. The installation was completed in the spring of 1996. Later in the year he designed a second mosaic artwork for the interior, installed in 1997, and a mosaic-clad clocktower for a plaza outside the mall at Praça Norte, which remains unexecuted.

The 'grand court' of NorteShopping is the focal point of the complex and composition, where a 1,500-square-foot ring of hand-cut mosaic surrounds a central stained glass skylight, flanked by long corridors covered by a progression of skylights. A back-lit stained glass canopy spans the entrance to NorteShopping.