The role of art in hospitals rarely extends beyond hanging pictures on the wall. But for Josef and Anni Albers, art was always much more than that. Both pioneers of modernism, the couple met in 1922 at the Bauhaus school, an establishment with a revolutionary approach to art. Bauhaus blurred the boundaries between craft, design and fine art and championed the concept of gesamtkunstwerk: the complete work of art, typically in the form of a house.

But why not a hospital department? That was the thinking of the Albers Foundation which, since the couple’s deaths late last century, has worked to continue their legacy. “Josef and Anni both believed that what we experience through our eyes can divert and elate us in unparalleled ways,” explains Nicholas Fox Weber, the foundation’s director. Taking inspiration from the Albers’ geometric patterns and confident use of colour, the foundation has created a bold new look for the children’s intensive care unit at St Mary’s hospital, London.

A waiting area. Photograph: Ed Reeve

Sunny yellows leap out from a background of tonal greys, with shades pulled from Josef’s Homage to the Square series, prints of which also feature throughout the space. Josef wrote an influential book on colour theory and believed yellow to be the colour of healing, making it the logical choice. Geometric patterns used on walls and bed screens are taken from Anni’s dynamic designs.

“For Anni Albers, abstract art was a relief from life’s troubles. For both her and Josef, rhythm and colour could brighten existence as nothing else, and enable people to withstand some of life’s greatest challenges,” explains Fox Weber. “The Albers would have been overjoyed to see their vision given new life at St Mary’s.”