Silver Forest is a permanent large-scale public artwork on the façade of Westminster City Hall. The research project (2011-2016) that culminated in the public artwork was led by artist Rut Blees Luxemburg in close collaboration with Lynch Architects and the Design and Engineering team of Graphic Relief Ltd., The Planning Department of Westminster City Council and the commercial property development company Land Securities supported the research and the resulting public art work.

The artwork measures 30 x 7 metres and has been created using a pioneering technological process casting photography in glass-reinforced concrete. Silver Forest depicts silver birch trees in urban forests from Beijing to London. The research investigates the connection between nature and the urban, the representation of the forest introduces ideas about regeneration, finding refuge but also awe and trepidation. This Silver Forest is collected together from urban forests, which are under intense strain and pollution, but somehow manage to survive.

The public art work was unveiled by Alex Farquharson, Director of Tate Britain who described the Silver Forest as a “signal of our new and emerging values in our built environment”