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Building Design (2003) - Hitchcock sculpture has project spellbound

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Reminiscent of the Egyptian Sphinx or a Buddha's head, the massive Corten steel head of a 38-year-old Hitchcock, by sculptor Anthony Donaldson, occupies a prominent position in the central public square of Munkenbeck & Marshall's new development.

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Huge puffed out cheeks, large thick lips that every aspiring supermodel would covet, a nose of great distinction and heavily lidded eyes, the haughty expression of the late film director Alfred Hitchcock gazes down from its raised platform, writes Amanda Birch.

Reminiscent of the Egyptian Sphinx or a Buddha's head, the massive Corten steel head of a 38‑year‑old Hitchcock, by sculptor Antony Donaldson, occupies a prominent position in the central public square of Munkenbeck & Marshall's new development.

The sculptor decided early on that the material should be corten and that the subject should be Hitchcock, given the filmmaker's association with the Gainsborough Studios, but Donaldson pushed the capabilities of the material.

At approximately 4m in height from the collar to the top of the head and 7m from front to back with the heaviest piece weighing 18 tonnes, the "Master of Suspense" is Donaldson's largest sculpture. It also houses within its plinth a small office accessed from the rear and at basement level, a car park.

Given its size and weight, the sculpture had to be constructed in stages beginning with the heaviest ‑ the 60cm‑thick mask. The car park was then built, and the pieces that make up the back and sides of the head including the ears, were transported to the site, craned in place and welded together. The plinth was then constructed around the head so that it pokes up through the base and looks as if at any moment, the eyes could spring open and the lips start moving like the Wizard of Oz.

The ears and the back parts to the head were made by the Sculpture Factory in east London ‑ as was Antony Gormley's Angel of the North, but the mask was cast in a foundry in Durham to create a smooth finish. Donaldson believes this is the first time Corten steel has been cast, and he had to wait 17 days before the mould could be broken and the mask revealed, while it cooled and solidified.

"I wanted it to be like an archaeological product or an Aztec piece that one would discover in a jungle," he said.

In the manufacture of corten, the edges of the material are covered in carbon. Rather than wait for this to weather off naturally Donaldson speeded up the process by sandblasting it off. During its construction, the team had to be sure that there were no areas where water could collect, as the material rapidly deteriorates if left in water and will rust away. This is one reason why the corten plinth is tilted and dotted with lazer cut holes so that water can run off.

It would be good to revisit Hitchcock in a few years once it has weathered and the silver birches surrounding the head have created a denser canopy, but I still feel that what it lacks is a fat cigar dangling from those fleshy lips.

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