The Environment

Since 1835 the arches have been silently watching life commencing vin Deptford. This was London's first Railway construction and reportedly the first suburban railway in the world, built to serve the growing community and as a means for carriages to reach the station above.The grade II listed structure now, 184 years old lives on as a crucial element of Deptford Market Yard, a regeneration project transforming what was a derelict site into a space for Deptford's community.

Through many years the arches have been offering service to the local community. A place for horses, a storage for locomotives air raid shelters through the blitz, coffee shops and more. Designers have became an instrumental part of this change when a carriage was bought onto site in 2008 to initialise the transition.

The carriage was transformed into a cafe and community event space whilst the railway arches were temporarily opened as artisan workshop units. They were occupied by talented designers and makers who collaborated on many of the events that followed on from this. As young designers we wanted to continue this using the arches as our creative space to share our interest in the site in the hope that the visitors of our temporary exhibition will appreciate the depth of history this location holds. We saw using this as an opportunity to appreciate the rich history held by the arches. Otherwise only visible through a blue plaque, our installation offered a celebration of the past, a look back on forgotten times.