Old Street Underground Station | Tait

Design consultancy Tait has been appointed by Transport for London (TfL) to redesign the retail space at Old Street Underground station. For the first time since it opened in 1901, Old Street station is being reinvented, transforming its passageways into London Underground’s most innovative retail destination, a subterranean treasure house of unusual retail, start-up businesses and experiential interaction, to tempt and attract the jaded but brand savvy Tech City commuter. The Project The project has three interconnected and complementary elements; new pop-up retail spaces, re-vamped exisitng retail units and redesigned wayfinding - all designed by Tait who are the sole design consultant. Pop up The first is the creation of eight new pop up retail spaces, focusing on very short term rentals that allow new, smaller brands to take space in a prime location. Tait has designed flexible frameworks to provide a consistent foundation for a high turn over of tenants, who can easily apply their own branding. This can just as easily be removed, and the space leased to another tenant the next day. Designed to appeal to the tech, brand-savvy commuters eager for the latest products and services, the pop ups provide the ideal platform not only for traditional selling, but for brands to tell stories, connect with and introduce themselves to potential customers. For example, the two market stalls directly opposite the ticket hall act like live product billboards, ideal for small brands moving from online to offline with real, affordable selling space that offers high footfall and great visibility. Tait’s Creative Director Robert Rosser explains; “We’re creating a bite size retail and entertainment hub which will evolve throughout the year. New prime retail space at Old Street Station is being made available for short-term rentals, providing brands, designers, artists and entrepreneurs with easy access to new audiences and potential clients.” Launched at the end of April, eight spaces in Old Street station will be available for short-term rent through Appear Here (the largest online market place for short term retail space). The new spaces will be used for retail or experiential purposes, curated around themes, concepts or seasons. These will change every three months, giving daily commuters a diorama of fresh concepts and creating a marketplace between entrepreneurs and potential clients, where original ideas can be launched, tested and refined. Reflecting the exciting and eclectic nature of the development, the first retailers to occupy the pop up units at Old Street Underground Station include Makers Academy, a 12-week computer programming bootcamp for people with little or no experience in computer programming, alongside Fully Charged, an innovative new electric bike company, and Mallow and Marsh, a handmade marshmallow company. Also popping up in Old Street Station is Bailey Nelson, a stylish eyewear brand whose co-founder, Ben Moffitt, was quick to see the full potential of the redesigned retail space: “We went into Old Street because we're simply excited to be part of yet another development that reiterates why London is one of the most progressive places to live and do business on the planet.” Re-engage The second element is the re-invigoratation of the existing units. Here Tait has worked with the existing retailers to create fresh, attractive and attention grabbing shop fronts that re-engage the passer-by with spaces they may have already walked by many times. All nine existing tenants have been given a bright shopfront re-design by Tait, to revitalize their look and re-engage with the regular commuter, accentuating the great retail and services already on offer. In the fast moving environment of the Underground, the branding and messages needed to be potent and immediate, grabbing the attention in a fraction of a glance and drawing commuters into the spaces. Tait stripped back all the existing shop fronts to the same base foundation and brought them into line with each other, with a clean black framework and light box provided for each. Individual branding is then layered on top, with focus remaining on the passers-by view into the body of the shop and the activity within. Being underground had an appreciable effect on Tait’s decisions on colour and lighting, to take account of the artificial rather than natural light, and lower lighting levels generally. Tait chose to replace the Traditional timber fascia boards on the shop fronts have been replaced with light boxes to give the retailers added impact and improve light levels, whilst using sharper and lighter tones to account for the lower light levels. Associate Director in Graphics, Holly Simpson; “Working with the existing tenants to re-brand their shop fronts has been hugely rewarding; this is re-presenting people's livelihood, and whilst we have been looking to bring the scheme together overall, a balance has also had to be struck with individual tenant's diverse requirements, values and needs.” Locate The final aspect, perhaps the most important as it provides the context for the others, is the complete redesign of the tired and confusing wayfinding in the station itself. Holly Simpson describes how the project brief was elaborated to address not only the retail but the overall asset; “When designing new frontages for the retail it became impossible not to address the wayfinding; the overall presentation of the space, retail frontage and the passages, just had to work in synergy.” Moreover, with a fast-moving mass of humanity flowing though the passageways, strong navigation and ease of way finding became a natural part of the drive for a more responsive, more convenient, more commuter focused environment. With eight exits, dated signage and a below ground layout difficult to relate to above ground geography, Tait re-designed the wayfinding system that takes commuters from the ticket hall to street level. Each passageway has been given an immersive colour wrap and numbering system to aid navigation, in a vibrant 'digital ribbon' design responsive to the tech-based locality." Continues Holly; “The wayfinding has made a huge difference to the appearance of the space, and has had a great response from the public on Twitter.”