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Amstel station

Tjep. was commissioned by the Dutch Railways to create an area for train passengers to relax.

The location in question, the Amstel Station in Amsterdam, is a building from the 30's in which painter Peter Alma (connected to the cubist movement) was invited to realize two very large murals.

The two paintings show trains, people and cities, making visible the function trains fulfill, which is to connect these elements. I thought it would be nice to pick up on the people connection and city landscape themes, but in a more abstract manner and on a smaller more personal scale.

This installation is a landscape of furniture, in which the furniture pieces are arranged rather like buildings in the sense that they vary in hight and shape to form a neighborhood. The playful composition of forms, based on a rigid (rather cubist) framework, was developed with a balance between privacy and openness in mind, inviting people to experience different levels of intimacy or interaction.

Product photography usually doesn't include the people who will actually be using the designs, in this case I couldn't ignore how naturally the pieces were adopted by the passing public, and how the initial intentions were immediately made visible in context. For the choice of materials, the rather unusual choice of wood and leather for a public space communicates a strong sense of comfort but also a sense of vulnerability. This will trigger users to be more respectful with this installation than might be the case with furniture usually found in stations (until now this seems to work).

Client: Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Utrecht

Date: September 2008

Design:
Frank Tjepkema

Materials:
Veneer & Leather

Production:
Hypsos

Photography:
Tjep.

Publication

Article about the Amstel station furniture in Dutch newspaper 'Het Parool'.

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