About ExploreStation
ExploreStation invites you to join Round 2 of our national conversation about the future of railway station design in the UK.
ExploreStation is a programme of online and face-to-face activities being organised by Design Council, The Glass-House Community Led Design, Digital Urban and Commonplace, to help engage the public in shaping the final stages of a new station design standard being developed by 7N Architects for Network Rail. This design responds to Round 1 of the engagement, for which we received over 2,000 contributions and comments from over 6,000 visitors to our in-person and online events and platform.
Round 1 of Explorestation, delivered in November 2021, produced an impressive quality and depth of engagement and feedback on 7N Architects and Network Rail’s proposal for a new kit-of-parts station design framework. A key finding from Round 1 was that people wanted to better understand how the proposed design framework will address the complexities and realities of differing local contexts and passenger experiences.
ExploreStation Round 2 will now be delivered in May 2022 in a series of online and in-person events across the UK. This extension of the engagement programme will enable us to further develop our workshop spaces to address in detail. All events are free to attend, but make sure you register your interest here to secure your place.
Interactive Design Workshops with The Glass-House
ExploreStation is convening a series of in-person and online workshops across the UK, which will be independent and playful spaces to explore the station design through a series of hands-on and creative design activities. These free workshops, led by The Glass-House, will create time and space to ask questions, share ideas, and consider how the emerging design will shape people’s experience of stations in the future. The contributions of those taking part will inform the next stage of development of the design framework from 7N Architects and help ensure the proposed design serves the diverse needs of the Great British public.
Register your free place using the links below:
- Liverpool, Wednesday 11 May, 6 – 8:30pm – open session with dinner provided
- Manchester, Thursday 12 May, 2 – 4:30pm – open session aimed at families and students
- Brighton, Wednesday 25 May, 5:30 – 8pm – open session with dinner provided
- Online, Thursday 26 May, 6 – 8pm – this workshop will focus on how the HUB station will accommodate those who identify as neurodiverse and/ or physical or mentally disabled.
You can read more about the round 1 workshops here in our blog, and read (and download) the exhibition guide produced as part of this round, which explores the design journey and current proposal.
Immersive Virtual Reality Experiences with Digital Urban
Join digital creators Digital Urban for an immersive virtual reality experience where you can walk or travel through a typical new station.
You will be able to feel the movement of the train as you arrive into a station. You’ll hear train announcements as you walk through a station with your luggage. You’ll see the detail of the new station design and interchanges with the local community. And you will have fun – seeing and feeling the station design materialise, before Digital Urban invites you to share your views.
You are invited to explore two experiences. The first, ‘Explore Four’, allows you and friends or family to enjoy a group experience as they arrive into a station by train. Please feel welcome to book as a group, or as an individual. The second experience, ‘Explore More’, allows individuals to wear a virtual reality (VR) headset and explore a station on foot.
Your booking slot will allow you time to do both. Experiences are available to participants over 13 years old and we will have subtitled experience options. These immersive experiences will be running across the UK, with locations and dates to be confirmed in February.
Register you interest to hear more here.
A Digital Engagement Platform from Commonplace
Commonplace in an online citizen engagement platform, which aims to broaden the accessibility of engagement by connecting with more communities in order to hear their voices and make better, more inclusive decisions about places.
The ExploreStation Commonplace platform is live now, and can be accessed here. Through this page, you can explore the current design, and soon give feedback on the next stage. You can also sign up for the latest updates from the project, including further news about the immersive experiences and workshops in round 2.