Design Collaboration and Artwork Street Furniture - Crawley High Street

Chrysalis Arts was commissioned by Crawley Borough Council, Sussex in 1998 to collaborate with their planners and engineers on the refurbishment of Crawley High Street. Following a process of consultation and development by Rick Faulkner and Kate Maddison, Kate developed a design concept based on road travel and the historic importance of Crawley as a halfway point between London and Brighton. The George Hotel on the High street is still used as a stopping off point for the famous annual RAC London to Brighton veterans car rally. The design concept also relates to the architecture present on the high street and in particular the arched timbers of some of the older buildings.

Chrysalis Arts involved local people in creating the gateway designs for each end of the High street. Artists Kate Maddison and Antonia Stowe ran community workshops to create silhouette images on Crawley, past, present and future. They also worked in the high street with Saturday shoppers to collect footprint patterns.

Crawley was established as a market town in the 13th Century and still has a thriving market. The artists open approach to consultation led the High Street design team to a greater understanding of the needs of market traders and shop keepers and influenced the position of street furniture and the overall paving design.

Chrysalis Arts was involved in designing all the artwork street furniture, and through their network of associated fabricators, manufactured them in stainless steel, steel and bronze. The items included: 20 cycle racks, 8 removable barriers, 11 seats, 20 gateway panels, 7 tree planters, 7 double lampposts, 19 single lampposts, 12 illuminated bollards and 102 bronze cast footprints.

The High Street refurbishment scheme was completed in 1999 and a further commission was undertaken in 2000 by Charlwood developers. This involved a series of artwork railing panels, based on the same High Street design concept, for the frontage of a new building at the southern end of the High Street.