Lasting

Design

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Crossrail Models

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Nearing the completion of London’s “Crossrail”, a 73-mile railway line under development in England that crosses London from east to west, I was commissioned to design and make interactive models of the Custom House station for the “Design Line” exhibition at the London Transport Museum.

8 sets in total we commissioned. The initial install was in in June 2016, and it exceeded expectations in regards to resilience and hard wearing characteristics.

In the 18 months that the exhibition ran for, a total of two sets were consumed. and considering that these models were played with daily by children of 2+ years old, they lasted a considerably longer than initially expected by the museum.

The material I specified was Valchromat, a high density wood fibre panel which is coloured throughout, and often used in architectural installations for high physical performance and durability. The Initial expectations were that 12 sets were to be consumed per year, so 2 over 18 months represented a significant cost saving. This was due to specifying and designing to with specific material and use considerations. The intial length of the exhibition was due to only be 12 months, but was extended a further 6 months.

Designing with

Children

in mind

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Creating

what

You Need

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I also helped make a few other items for the exhibition, including cases and covers at very short notice. I personally always design for durability in an industry that often offers the minimum viable product, but the ethos at lasercut.london is that we want you to be happy, and if we design and make something that exceeds your expectations then I will have succeeded. Here are some photos from the design line exhibition itself.