Tait redesigns shopping centre beneath London’s ‘Silicon Roundabout’
St. Agnes Well shopping centre at London’s Old Street Roundabout has been given a new look and feel that’s far more in keeping with its position at the heart of London’s creative and technological heart
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.
