As part of the 150-year celebration of the station being built, I was commissioned by TfL to design a series of artworks inspired by the heritage of the station and local area. The brief was to brighten up the station, celebrate its history and improve the customer experience for the 21 million people who pass through it.
The artwork in the main ticket hall pays tribute to the station’s more recent heritage. The graduating holes in the design highlight the post-modernist structural elements of the platform canopies, circular windows, and specially designed clocks. The blue and green hues represent the Piccadilly and District lines, echoing the vibrant colours found in the station’s 1990s architectural details on the platforms and stairs. The verdant colour scheme is designed to bring the essence of nature and warm sunshine into the built environment, reminiscent of Hammersmith’s rural past.
The corridor artwork takes inspiration from the steam locomotives that used to run here when the station opened in 1874. The blue and green hues again represent the Piccadilly and District lines with the billowing smoke imagery designed to bring a softness, warmth and flow to the space as people pass through.
Hammersmith Station was opened on 9th September 1874 by the District Railway (now the District line). On 25th December 1906, the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (now the Piccadilly line) opened with Hammersmith as its western terminus.
In the early 1990s, the station buildings and neighbouring bus garage were demolished and incorporated into a modern shopping centre, incorporating the underground station and bus interchange.
During the redevelopment, parts of the original Harry W Ford facade were salvaged showing the station name and the lines serving it. The Arts & Crafts font and architectural features were preserved and now form a frame to a decorative mosaic of Hammersmith bridge in the station’s main ticket hall. These sit within the current post-modernist building.
The platform waiting room artwork is a contemporary reimagining of the wooden daggerboards from the original 1874 station canopy.
The sweeping curves of the artwork echo the post-modernist design of the 1990s platform canopy. The arches formed by the pennants soften the hard edges of the waiting room, creating a more welcoming atmosphere. The alternating blue and green colours naturally represent the Piccadilly and District lines on either side of the platform. Their likeness to bunting also adds a celebratory air.
