As one of the most-used stations on the London Underground, the platform at King’s Cross was in a terribly dilapidated state in the 1980s and in urgent need of some brightening up.
Step forward artist Paul Huxley, who was commissioned by London Regional Transport – now called Transport for London (TfL) – to carry out a complete overhaul of the designs for the Northern and Piccadilly line platforms.
He was told to use any durable materials he wished, and came up with a plan to decorate the station with ceramic glazes on a robust red clay tile which would blend in with the existing 1930s tiles in the connecting passageways.
Mr Huxley told how he wanted to reflect the movement of people through the station by making a ‘gradation of colour from one end of each platform to the other’ and to make it like an animated abstract film.
The large geometric shapes have no immediately recognisable picture, although Mr Huxley wove into them a theme based on a simple letter ‘K’ and a cross, which…