Proposal – Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation 2022

The Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation sought an artist to produce ‘creative wayfinding’ at Willesden Junction Station as part of improvements planned in spring/summer 2022.

We suggested that there were two elements to the project: first, wayfinding – to help people navigate a complex site; and second, placemaking – to invoke the local identity of the site, its people and its history.

Our approach to wayfinding is pragmatic. We recommended a system based on a current standard that is well tested, familiar, functional and clear. Why reinvent the wheel?

Conversely, our approach to placemaking is site-specific. The content of the work would be informed by the outcomes of existing public engagement events and our own research.

We recommended wide local participation, offering people an opportunity to be part of something that is bigger than the sum of its parts, ensuring that the work is authentic. We think that capturing the public’s stories is the way to reveal the identity and characteristics of the locality and community and would yield unique design outcomes that play to a sense of place.

This wider public participation, which we have successfully utilised in our projects (in Dalston Square, Hackney and Kensington Central Library), creates a sense of pride, local ‘ownership’ and personal connection to the work.

This could also solve the additional challenge of ensuring that the artwork continues to engage, inform and delight as people pass through the site time-after-time, as well as making Willesden Junction a destination to visit in its own right.