Of Silt, Rust and Chemicals
– A talk about the new Olympic Legacy project at Hackney Wick Station
In 2014 Landolt + Brown, working in collaboration with architect trained artist Wendy Hardie, were appointed to design an Olympic Legacy project at Hackney Wick Station, including a new public connection beneath the railway and associated public realm.
The design, embedding art within its process from the start, explores overlapping narratives drawn from the Lee River, its canal and lost chemical industries. It embraces the massive concrete structures required to form a new underpass, exposing and building on this weighty character to reflect the silt, mud flats and willows of the Lee. Its surfaces change from saw-tooth profile – drawing on the canal’s sheet piled edges and factory folding screens– to board-cast concrete stairs echoing the twisting bark and trunks of the weeping willows. A debossed frieze cast into the underpass is based on the chemical compounds of dyes, plastic and petroleum once produced at Hackney wick. A 35m continuous chain of glass hexagons, drawn from molecular chemistry, runs the length of the subway, creating a shimmering environment evoking memories of the compressed, enigmatic spaces under the canal towpath bridges. Canopies forming the underpass entrance are built of heavy-gauge, plated, weathering steel reinforcing the Wick’s gritty, industrial character.
The talk on site will be led by the architect with contributions from the collaborating artist, project engineers and the client team. The talk is free but please book using the Eventbrite link.
June 14, 2018
18:30 – 20:00
Admission: FREE
Tickets/Booking: Eventbrite
Venue
Hackney Wick Station
Hackney Wick Station Wallis Road London E9 5LH
The main entrance is from the south, via White Post Lane.
Organiser
Landolt + Brown Architects
Website: www.landoltandbrown.com
Twitter: @LandoltandBrown
Instagram: @landoltbrown