The 2016 artwork was by designer and Royal Academician Ron Arad. His installation, Thought of Train of Thought, was an 18-metre-long twisted blade that rotated slowly to create an optical illusion of horizontal, train-like movement. In contrast to its imposing station surroundings – “rich in architectural details, busy with movement of people, trains, billboards and other stimuli,” says Arad – the work was “minimal, monolithic and calm.”
Ron Arad
Ron Arad’s constant experimentation with the possibilities of materials such as steel, aluminium and polyamide and his radical re-conception of the form and structure of furniture has put him at the forefront of contemporary design and architecture. Arad has designed a number of public art pieces, including the Vortext in Seoul, Korea, the Kesher Sculpture at Tel Aviv University, Evergreen in Tokyo, and Curtain Call for Roundhouse, London. In 2016, Ron Arad unveiled Thought of Train of Thought at St Pancras International.
Born in Tel Aviv in 1951, educated at the Jerusalem Academy of Art and later at the Architectural Association in London, Ron Arad co-founded with Caroline Thorman the design and production studio One Off in 1981 and later, in 1989, Ron Arad Associates architecture and design practice. In 2008 Ron Arad Architects was established alongside Ron Arad Associates.
From 1994 to 1999 he established the Ron Arad Studio, design and production unit in Como, Italy. Arad was awarded the Royal Designer for Industry (RDI) in recognition of his “sustained excellence in aesthetic and efficient design for industry” in 2002, and was awarded the London Design Medal in 2011. He was professor of Design at the Hochschule in Vienna from 1994 to 1997, and later Professor of Design Products at the Royal College of Art in London up until 2009, when he was made Professor Emeritus. In 2013 he was elected as a Royal Academician by the Royal Academy of Arts in London.
