'Outside' by Morag Morrison

Sunderland

Platforms

2010

Morag Morrison, who devised the colour scheme for the Sunderland Metro line in 2002, worked closely with the project team to design the external finishes to buildings along the platform. Taking her lead from the design objective of reintroducing a sense of light, she began by photographing light reflections on other surfaces, at stations on the Sunderland line.

These images were enlarged almost to the point of abstraction; look closer and the fabric of a carriage seat, a stack of free newspapers, overhead power lines or the detail of a textured floor tile become recognisable.  Engineers worked hard to turn an artistic creation into a durable design feature, finding new ways to print onto glass panels to face the previously austere concrete walls of the platform.

Outside now offers different parts of the platform subtle changes in mood, all the time reflective of their wider context.