Yard Works

Train stations are often at the centre of communities, bringing people together as well as helping them access other areas of a city or state. While connected to a wider network, each individual train station has its own identity that should be celebrated in order to inspire community pride and togetherness. 

Collide recently had the opportunity to enhance North Williamstown train station in Melbourne’s west, being commissioned by the Victorian Government as part of the Level Crossing Removal Project. Paying homage to the area’s industrial history, this project saw an image of a steam train (specifically, a historical one housed in the nearby Newport Railway Museum) embedded into the architectural fabric of the rail infrastructure itself. 

While such pieces of work are Collide’s bread and butter, this project presented a unique challenge in that it needed to be completed during the pandemic. This meant that the ideation, fabrication and building stages were entirely conducted through online meetings. The project’s materiality and public’s ability to interact with the piece also had to be visualised and processed virtually. 

To navigate around this challenge, artist and Collide founder James Voller worked with Ben Lamason of Matter Visuals to create high-definition renders of the work, enabling more accurate visualisation. Once the vision was clearly mapped out,  James collaborated with Metrix, a specialist in high-end architectural cladding, to design the piece. Using their Picperf process, James’ work was transferred to perforated aluminium sheets with varying hole sizes that help to create interest and intrigue. James remained highly involved in this process, ensuring no photographic detail was lost in this process. 

The final result is a piece that acknowledges the west’s rich industrial history and the powerful impact of technology in art.