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CSM X TfL: Decommissioned Piccadilly Line Tube Carriages being given a Second Life
The Surface Design Show team visited the Central Saint Martins Summer Showcase and we were blown away by the creativity on display. A standout highlight was a collaborative, restorative project between CSM students and Transport for London (TfL).
TfL are decommissioning 73 tube stock trains and 84 of the Piccadilly Line Fleet. Ten Product Design Students used these decommissioned trains for their final projects, students used entire carriages or smaller elements like handrails to execute their final vision.
Paul De’ATH, Course Leader for BA Product and Industrial Design, “Our students were encouraged to engage citizens in the decision-making around creating products and services. Using the participatory and circular design processes, the students created a range of ideas that supported the TfL strategy for adaptive reuse of rolling stock and materials.
It is very inspiring for the tutors and our industry partners to witness our students’ positive mindsets, which bring fresh perspectives to a challenge.
The project brief, written jointly with the TfL team, enabled our students to showcase their creativity and further develop their creative attributes, such as visual communication, mental agility, personal resilience, connectivity with others. Guiding and steering design skills applied to such a challenging and significant brief with TfL was a joy for the tutors, rewarding for the TfL team and a rich, student portfolio project to help launch their creative careers as socially and environmentally engaged designers.”
The TfL teams favourite uses for the decommissioned carriages included a community sauna, a market stall carriage and Hannah Sullivan’s project titled ‘Community Collections’. Hannah was interested in TfL’s history of involvement in art and design in the 20’s and 30’s this influenced her to ‘bring some of this rich history back into modern time and modern spaces’. Hannah used TfL’s classic colourful handrails and different 3D printed joints she created to design a modular furniture system for community spaces providing a second life for this decommissioned stock.