The £7m modernisation of Sunderland station platforms by Nexus has won a national design award.
Platform 5, the artwork that is the centrepiece of the new station, was named winner in the Special Projects category at the 2011 Lighting Design Awards in London.
The work by Jason Bruges Studio was also last week ‘commended’ at the UK Design Week Awards.
The art installation consists of a 144m long and 3m tall glass block wall concealing a disused platform at Sunderland train station creating a large low-resolution video matrix of more than 11,000 ‘pixels’
The concept depicts ghostly characters that appear behind the glass wall opposite passengers waiting for a train.
Bernard Garner, Director General of Nexus, which owns and manages the Tyne and Wear Metro, one of three train operators to use Sunderland station, said: “We set out to transform Sunderland station into a world-class city gateway, and this is confirmation we have succeeded.
“Passengers have told us how happy they are with the new-look Sunderland, in particular the three artworks that were built into the design.”
Jonathon Hodges, Project Designer of Jason Bruges Studio said "Each ghostly character has its own behaviour, some are friends standing together in conversation, others appearing antisocial and stand away from the others, one or two bring their dogs and some reading newspapers."
An array of simple sensors observes the motion and location of trains and a computer-based control system uses this information in combination with the character behaviour to create the moving figures behind the wall. The light matrix is be made up of individually addressable white-coloured LED nodes mounted on bespoke metal frames.
The character were created by filming thirty-five local people from Sunderland doing everyday activities that people perform while waiting for a train. Their movements were digitally deconstructed and then reassembled in the computer to create the animations on the light wall.
Platform 5 is one of three permanent artworks at Sunderland. Also at the station is ‘Found’ a sequence of 41 poignant photos depicting real items of railway lost property, and ‘Outside’ – giant images of railway infrastructure printed onto glass and lining platform buildings.
Sunderland station is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains. Nexus invested in the station as the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive and owner of Metro.
Metro passengers make up three quarters of the two million people who pass through Sunderland station ever year. The station also provides direct Grand Central intercity services to York and London, and Northern regional trains to surrounding towns and cities.