The concave dome of St Stephen Walbrook in London is cast in the colours of the aurora borealis for the immersive installation Halo by Studio Waldemeyer.

The transcendent light installation features a conical pendulum that follows a celestial orbit around the altar of the 17th-century church’s altar, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, mimicking the movement of the planets.

Inset with lights, the pendulum traces the course of an ethereal ‘halo’ while projecting colours across the interior of the chapel’s grand dome. These dynamic colours – purple, green and navy blue hues – are inspired by the northern lights, and their patterning evokes the natural curtains, rays, spirals and flickers of the cosmic phenomenon.

Says the studio: ‘Halo encourag[es] the modern viewer to find spiritual resonance within the timeless and the ethereal.’

The light installation is part of Wren 300, a series of events marking the 300th year since the death of architect Sir Christopher Wren. St Stephen’s was constructed between 1672 and 1679 to replace the medieval church, which was destroyed during the Great Fire of London in 1666.

It is one of the ’10 most important buildings in Britain’, according to critic Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, and features a 63-feet high dome that is based on Wren’s original design for St Paul’s, centred on 12 Corinthian columns and carried by a circle of eight arches, in the manner of the Byzantine squinch. The chapel is among Wren’s finest interiors. In 1987, a massive white stone altar by Henry Moore was installed in the centre of the church.

Halo casts the architectural features of the interior in a new light and frames new perspectives of the historic building.

Halo is open daily until 24 September 2023 at St Stephen Walbrook, 39 Walbrook, London EC4N 8BN