Notting Hill and Design Museum Bus Shelters

Between 1996 and 1999, Brian Clarke and architect Norman Foster collaborated on a proposal for a series of bus shelters, the world's first to combine a bus stop and disabled access toilets, in partnership with advertising corporation JCDecaux. Designed by Foster + Partners, each structure would feature a printed, coloured glass ceiling by Clarke related to the stop’s location, paired with an etched text, drawn from Nikolaus Pevsner's series of architectural guides The Buildings of England. In 1999, two were executed, one at Notting Hill Gate and the other on Kensington High Street, outside the former Commonwealth Institute (now the Design Museum).

On this project, Clarke stated:

‘We wanted to bring art into the street, to offer an experience that would transcend the banality of everyday life. Waiting for your bus, you stand under a transparent canopy of leaves made from natural stained-glass. When the sun is in the right position, it casts a pattern of colours and shadows on to the pavement. Even on a dull day you are aware of the colourful ‘sky’ above you. The intention was to replace every bus shelter in Britain. The leaves would change from region to region; every shelter would be special to its place.’