Contours of Time: archival revelations + spatial representation

Abstract

On March 15 1899, the first passenger train departed London’s Marylebone Station for the city of Manchester. Sitting within a complex of communities – historic and contemporary, transient and permanent – Marylebone Station has always been as much, if not more, about the people who created, used, worked within, and lived near to it. Through its enduring presence, it has become a landmark offering a generous, but familiar, gateway into London for the wider railway network. As part of celebrations to mark the station’s 125th anniversary, an installation was designed and created for one entrance. This article explores the process and execution of research and design that were key to this commission. It considers how the consultation and disclosure of archival material can be revealed through the design, display and spatial arrangement of material; how the patina of the past is carried within the interior of a space and resonates with the present; and how the particular historic and contemporary connections that exist between Marylebone Station and the wider communities it serves might be reflected within the design’s composition.