It feels like the end of something, putting this prototype in place. Or a beginning. Both, really. We’ve been focused on getting the engineering right from very early on, and seeing what Toby and Tuur have achieved with this installation is amazing: it’s sleek, it’s solid, it’s.. well, it’s beautiful. We’ve come a long way [...]
June 9, 2011
Its been a busy couple of months for the bus tops team, culminating in the assembly of our first prototype at Trueform Engineering. Trueform are responsible for the fabrication and installation of bus shelters across the city, they have an awesome manufacturing facility, and an incredibly helpful team who have engaged us throughout this very [...]
March 3, 2011
Now that our first full prototype is being produced by real manufacturers, we’ve moved out of our prototyping space at Metropolitan Works. It has served us incredibly well over the past few months to test out little things and get our head around big things. Many thanks to Marcus at Metropolitan works for all his [...]
February 15, 2011
There is a massive difference between working for a degree and working on a real design project, more so than I first imagined. Apart from a few securities, such as starting the project in the same studios and workshops I graduated from only a few weeks earlier, the Bus Tops project has felt far removed [...]
February 8, 2011
As we’re finalising the design of the physical installations and going through all the technical details, one of the things that we’re constantly reminded of is how 33 is a strange number. 33 is the number of installations we’re aiming for, because there are 33 boroughs in London (well, actually 32 boroughs and the City of [...]
February 8, 2011
Things are coming together. On the 9th and 10th of December, we tested an MDF prototype on top of a bus-shelter in Brockley. We rocked up to our test-site armed with a slightly rough testing plan, hard hats and high viz jackets. It was the first time all elements (substructure, screen, enclosure, bus-shelter) came together, which [...]
November 17, 2010
We are running the location selection app for just another couple of weeks and will be closing it down on Dec 1st. Thanks so much for all the selections so far and please do spread word to other Londoners you think might be interested.
November 11, 2010
Sitting in the office with Matt, Tuur and Toby, bathed in the brothel-like radiance of the red LED prototype, I realise we haven’t really spoken about what we’ve been up to lately. Prototyping has been steady and effective, resulting in greater use of London Plane in the enclosure and a slightly reduced aspect ratio [...]
September 13, 2010
A couple of weeks ago we visited WL West and Sons to see our first London Plane tree be cut to planks and readied for use, this is a short video of that process. Bus-Tops - Preparing London Plane at WL West and Sons from Bus-Tops on Vimeo.
September 13, 2010
Cultural Olympiad project Bus-Tops and Goldsmiths, University of London have today announced a new collaboration to deliver prototypes of Bus-Tops art installations which will be placed across London in 2012. Bus-Tops is an innovative digital commission for the capital in 2012, one of 12 Artists taking the lead commissions forming part of the Cultural Olympiad, funded [...]
July 14, 2011