11 of London's best sculptures, public artworks and free-to-view design icons

Taking place this year from September 17 to 25, the London Design Festival celebrates the best of domestic and international design and provides something of a treasure trove for design aficionados – until its conclusion, venues throughout the city will host ingenuous pavilions, unique installations and various other testaments and tributes to the transformative towers of intelligent and unexpected design.

But, commendable and credible as the festival is, it isn’t the only showcase for spectacular design and public art in the capital. Free to view and dotted around the city, these artistic displays and design installations promise to make an impression far beyond the London Design Festival’s nine-day tenure.

Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth

Given its location, this is an artistic initiative that few visitors to London will miss. Dating from 1841, Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth was meant to hold a statue of William IV but was left unadorned due to insufficient funds being available for its construction. That unanticipated absence has bequeathed an unusual opportunity to modern-day designers and artists, who compete for the honour of having an artwork displayed on the plinth for a set period of time. Though the selection is occasionally divisive, those who dislike the artwork can take solace in the fact it isn’t permanent; those with a more positive impression of the piece tend to appreciate it all more through knowing its display is only temporary. Previous installations have included Yinka Shonibare’s Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle, erected in 2010, and Marc Quinn’s Alison Lapper Pregnant, put in place in 2005. Next up is a work by Brighton-based David Shrigley, showing a fist with elongated thumb.

Waltham Forest’s Wood Street Walls

Founded in 2014, Wood Street Walls beautifies otherwise unremarkable walls throughout the borough of Waltham Forest in an effort to make beauitufl art accessible to all. Locals keen to make their home a local landmark, can ‘donate’ a wall to the cause, while various businesses in the area – including The Bell Pub in Walthamstow which now proudly boats a mural by Shok 1 – have been enthusiastic supporters of the initiative.

The Mandela Way T-34 Tank in Bermondsey

This unusual addition to Bermondsey was used during the filming of the 1995 drama Richard III, before it was sold for £7,000 to Londoner Russell Gray. He installed it in its currently location – on a piece of scrubland between Mandela Way and Pages Walk, where it is frequently repainted and graffitied.

Antony Gormley’s ROOM in Mayfair

Perched on the edge of Mayfair’s Beaumont Hotel, this crouched figure is another of artist Antony Gormley’s humanoid artworks. Enjoyed by all from outside, its innards are accessible to only a select few. As well as being a sculpture, the figure forms the body of ROOM, London’s weirdest hotel suite. Couples staying in this abode sleep within an oak-panelled bedroom housed within the crouching body.

Battersea Park’s sculptures

A commendable array of sculptures await visitors who take the time to explore Battersea Park. Considered by many to be the most impressive are Henry Moore’s Three Standing Figures, which stands in the Sub-Tropical Garden, and Barbara Hepworth’s bronze Single Form, a memorial to UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold, killed in a plane crash in 1961.

The Serpentine Pavilion

Somewhat similar in concept to Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth, the Serpentine Pavilion is unveiled each summer and removed each autumn. Set against the handsome Serpentine Gallery in the middle of Hyde Park, it’s a reliable lure for design fans who come in droves to admire and interact with a large-scale installation by the likes of Jean Nouvel (2010) and Zaha Hadid (2000). This year’s pavilion, by Bjarke Ingels of Denmark’s BIG, is on display until October 9.

Paddington’s Rolling Bridge

A pedestrian bridge that connects two sections of the Grand Union Canal at Paddington Basin, the Rolling Bridge is remarkable due to its dynamism. Ordinarily curled into itself, centipede-like, it unfurls to provide dry passage over the inlet. It’s notable too for being designed by Thomas Heatherwick, the man behind the controversial plans for the South Bank’s Garden Bridge.

The Battle of Cable Street mural in Shadwell

Another of London’s varied murals, this time on an old town hall near Shadwell’s DLR station, the Battle of Cable Street mural depicts the day that 300,000 Jews, Labour Party members and Irish dockers took to the streets to oppose a demonstration by the British Union of Fascists.

Stratford’s ArcelorMittal Orbit

An observation tower and public sculpture raised to mark the 2012 London Olympic Games, Orbit isn’t without denouncers who bemoan its bulky steel skeleton and unusual silhouette. Members of the public have long been able to ascend the tower for East London views from its rooftop observatory, but a new way to engage with the landmark was unveiled in June. Swerving around the existing structure, a new 178-metre slide hurtles its passengers down 76 metres in just 40 seconds.

The Tower Hamlets Traffic Light Tree

A possible attraction to passers-by paying undue attention but much loved by almost everyone else, the Tower Hamlets Traffic Light Tree holds a full 75 sets of traffic lights which start and stop in erratic disorder. Previously placed in Westferry Road and other locations, it has most recently been positioned by Billingsgate Market.

St-Martin-in-the-Fields strange window

Placed in St-Martin-in-the-Fields church by Trafalgar Square, this unconventional church window is the world of Shirazeh Houshiary, a former Turner prize nominee. The Iranian artist’s work was installed in 2008.