The Secret Life of Retired Tubes

So what really happens to dead old tube carriages when they can no longer be used for transport?
Well normally they're taken to bits, sorted into piles and the pieces are generally disposed of in landfill, but now there's a new lease on life for disused tube carriages.

Starting in London about a year ago, six old Jubilee line carriages were cleaned up and adapted into workspace and studios for young artists, designers and start-up creative businesses. Four carriages and two shipping containers now sit, completely converted and reconstructed as functional studios and workspaces, above an equally miraculous restored warehouse.

The outsides of the carriages are an ever changing and dynamic canvas for the graffiti art created by kids jumping the viaduct at night, and inside architects, interior designers, filmakers, artists and scriptwriters among other creative types create their pieces. The warehouse is currently one of the most sought after venues for fashion, film and art events in London, and the whole project has had fantastic success so far.

"There has been such an overwhelmingly positive response from people like Hugo Boss and MTV who are hiring the warehouse space below for big events, and in the trains above." says Daniel Bridge, Planner at Uran Design company EDAW.

The Director of Village Underground, Auro Foxcroft was the one with the ideas (Village Underground is a non-profit organisation providing affordable studio spaces for creatives struggling to find workspace). "I'm a furniture designer and wanted my own studio, but because of the limited choice and high cost of work spaces around London, it was impossible. I decided I needed to find or create a space for myself and for like-minded people to work."

He explains that the old carriages are the perfect workspaces, with plenty of windows and light, and once the seats are out, plenty of room too. Frequent and lengthy delays were a problem due to lack of funding, but a wide range of charities, organisations and individuals pitched in, and funds from hiring of the warehouse helped. The success of the London project has inspired Foxcroft to start thinking about maybe even expanding the project to create an international Village Underground in other cities, so lets all keep our fingers crossed Australian train carriages can hope for a retirement future sometime soon!