Hasta La Ideas

Design studio hat-trick worked with local artists to create a wayfinding system based on patterned tiles for the Stockwell Park Estate in Lambeth, south London…

The brief for the project, which has just been installed, was to help make the estate feel more accessible and welcoming, says hat-trick’s Gareth Howat. “The signs needed to be clear and simple, with the aim of helping both the first time visitor and residents of the estate,” he says. “[It] has a wide variety of buildings and surfaces within it, so the signage needed to be adaptable.”

“A modular system of tiles combine with a bespoke palette of patterns to give a balance of both functionality and personality,” Howat adds. “The tile system allows the signage to adapt to a range of surfaces and configurations to suit the variety of surroundings the wayfinding has to work in.”

The studio commissioned a range of local artists and designers to create a palette of patterns for the tiles,  inspired by the history, culture and architecture of the area. Contributors included pattern maker Linda Florence, designers Telegramme, illustrator Rebecca Sutherland and local graffiti artist, Boyd.

“The idea was to create a striking, bold and eclectic mix of styles to represent the diversity of the area,” says Howat. “These patterns were applied across the range of signs, even down to bird boxes which were given tiled roofs and placed around the estate.”

The studio was commissioned by cultural consultancy Future City, who created a ‘cultural strategy’ for the area for housing association alliance, Network Housing Group.

See hat-trickdesign.co.uk.