Not so long ago, London’s Old Street roundabout was an ordinary (if perennially busy) interchange. Now this area is at the heart of London’s Tech City, a hub of dynamism and creativity that’s also known as Silicon Roundabout (a reference to California’s Silicon Valley).
Beneath the Roundabout – and linked to Old Street Tube station – is a small shopping centre called St. Agnes Well which, although useful, has hardly kept pace with the area’s dramatic transformation.
But now all that has changed, thanks to a suitably hip redesign by design consultancy Tait, which has transformed the shopping centre into a vibrant and colourful enclave of permanent and temporary shops designed to appeal to tech- and brand-savvy commuters eager for the latest products and services.
The project was initiated by Transport for London and the design includes retail units that are available for short-term lets, an idea that has become hugely popular in the last few year and which also spawned the nearby Boxpark Shoreditch shopping centre, retail units that are taken on a longer lease.
The bold graphics on the walls of the underground corridors also help commuters find their way to the station’s various numbered exits.
