CR Blog

A pop-up King's Cross

Books, Illustration

Posted by Mark Sinclair, 30 August 2012, 9:44    Permalink    Comments (15)

The story of London's King's Cross station is told in a charming new illustrated book from Cicada, which boasts a pop-up of the recently regenerated structure at its centre...

Discovering King's Cross: A Pop-Up Book charts the station's 160-year history, culminating in the regeneration work completed by architects John McAslan + Partners, who installed the new concourse and domed roof, and restored some of the structure's original features.

Built in 1852, the station's bold simplicity was in sharp contrast to the neo-gothic style of neighbouring St Pancras station. By the late 1930s, King's Cross was home to some of the most powerful steam engines ever built, such as the Flying Scotsman and the Mallard.

The book also describes the turbulent 1960s, where classicism was replaced by brutalism, and reveals how plans conceived in a mid-1990s to build the new Eurostar terminal at King's Cross helped to initiate the regeneration of the area.

All of this is illustrated by Lucy Dalzell, with the pop-up section designed by paper engineering specialist, Corina Fletcher. Texts are by Michael Palin, Jay Merrick and Dan Cruickshank.

Discovering King's Cross: A Pop-Up Book is published next month by Cicada; £17.95.

15 Comments

Wonderful! This looks fantastic!
Jack Lowe
2012-08-30 11:11:55

Nice, any idea when this will be available?
kevin
2012-08-30 11:16:27

@Kevin Sorry, I neglected to include that! It's out next month (text amended)
CR Mark Sinclair
2012-08-30 11:22:42

Looks amazing, love the illustrations!
JPH
2012-08-30 12:05:50

Fantastic book, love the intricate style of illustration.
Matt Rogers
2012-08-30 12:47:58

Love it! Beautiful illustration work. Can't wait to get my copy.
Chris
2012-08-30 14:09:41

That's amazing! Love it!
Emma
2012-08-30 16:54:12

Have loved pop up books since I was a kid and this one looks so great.
The Bear
2012-08-30 20:47:50

Great to have King's Cross celebrated like this, and a nice accompaniment to "King’s Cross: A Sense of Place" by Angela Inglis which looks at the people who campaigned to preserve the character of the area.

It's also nice to re-claim the word "pop-up" to how it was used when I was a child, not to mean a temporary trendy bar in a car park or something!
KXLDN
2012-08-31 09:56:13

Gorgeous Object!
ads-studio
2012-08-31 12:56:00

The pop-up of the station looks great but the trains are a bit dodgy...a shame to spoil it with badly drawn engines which are not even all the right locos for King's Cross. Surely everybody knows that the streamlined Coronations (red engine second from left) were run by the LMS from Euston up the west coast main line. They were the great rivals of the LNER's A4s like Mallard (the blue streamliner next to it) and never went anywhere near King's Cross or the east coast main line. Why can't designers do their research and get these things right?
Oliver Green
2012-08-31 15:16:34

Love the illustrations, will definitely be buying this
Ben L
2012-08-31 17:25:11

Beautiful stuff
Paul
2012-08-31 22:51:41

I love it!!! Lovely pop-up book...wonderfull work with paper!
Patricia
2012-09-02 13:09:12

@Oliver Green - I believe the page you are insulting is entitled 'Iconic British trains' and whilst you can't read the text would you not be lead to assume that the page is celebrating a range of trains rather than just ones that frequented Kings Cross? Why can't commenters do their research and get these things right?
KJI
2012-09-03 09:02:19

Tell us what you think

What happens with my feedback?

What happens with my feedback?

We no longer require you to register and have a password in order to comment, simply fill in the form below. All comments are moderated so you may experience a short delay before your comment appears. CR encourages comments to be short and to the point. As a general rule, they should not run longer than the original post. Comments should show a courteous regard for the presence of other voices in the discussion. We reserve the right to edit or delete comments that do not adhere to this standard.

Get the RSS Feed
Related subjects and keywords

Subject:

Books, Illustration

Keywords:

Build

More like this

Articles:

BUILD

53721

The CR iPad app
The Creative Review iPad app The Creative Review iPad app is here, with exclusive content and updates throughout each month for your viewing and reading pleasure...
NULL