Assemble and Matthew Raw’s ‘Clay Station’ in London
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Transport for London enlisted Assemble architects to revamp a derelict kiosk outside the Seven Sisters station in north London.The station, part of the Art on the Underground program, now has a vibrant hybrid of art, design, and architecture titled “Clay StAssemble and Matthew Raw’s ‘Clay Station’ in London
Transport for London enlisted Assemble architects to revamp a derelict kiosk outside the Seven Sisters station in north London.The station, part of the Art on the Underground program, now has a vibrant hybrid of art, design, and architecture titled “Clay Station” at its entrance. Assemble worked with London-based ceramicist Matthew Raw to revamp a kiosk that will be rented out to businesses for commercial opportunities. “The project was about making something that doesn’t look like it takes itself too seriously, just something overtly fun and enjoyable to improve the day to day commute,” said Adam Willis, architect at Assemble.The collaboration was an attempt to blend the heritage of London’s iconic underground with cutting-edge contemporary craft. “It’s a celebration of tiling and clay on the Underground and on London’s infrastructure,’ added Willis. Together, they worked to develop a technique of embedding and distributing color through the tiles within the clay, producing a marbled effect of the combined colors — a canary yellow with a dense steel blue, and a dusty evergreen with white. The color is kneaded into the body of the clay with a clear glaze over the top. Assemble overhauled the design of the kiosk by adding benches, an overhanging roof, and a tower to make it more prominent.Eleanor Pinfield, head of Art on the Underground, said, “For Assemble, the process is part of the outcome. It’s so important to them that projects have a life and a social function, and it’s important to us that it doesn’t just become a beautiful static building, but that it becomes part of the fabric of the community,” noted Wallpaper. Read more