Description:

Situated in the metaphorical comic gutter (the slash) between 41/37 Nuffield Street, Platform 39 is a convergence of linear forms that challenges perceptions of time and speed within a comic retail space.

Upon investigating people’s innate ability to interpret shading techniques in comic books as an implication of pace, I wondered whether this could be developed from something that influenced how we read, to a language that influences how we behave.

Newmarket train-station, a pivotal junction at the heart of the suburb, continued this study of linearity in the context of human nature. It prompted the idea of vastly different journeys intersecting fleetingly, some racing from
one train to the next, and others simply meandering too nowhere at all. Rather than flattening its audience into a single type, Platform 39 identifies 4 key demographics through the metric of time, creating a coexistence that may not naturally occur in the haste of life. To capture this, the Inner-Link establishes itself as the primary furnishing of the space - an unending structure of parallel timber beams, housing a plethora of comics and inhabitable surfaces. While customers may choose to activate it within their preferred part of the space, they’re unbeknownst to their indirect contact with someone seeking a contrasting retail experience. The beams that comprise this network are representative of these
demographics becoming paralled, within and around the space, with the 5th established as what binds them
together.

The Observer: Positioned outside the store, this bench offers a passive engagement. Visitors pause for a coffee, inevitably becoming the audience to what lies inside. They hover on the edge of the narrative, thinking they haven’t already entered it.

The Socializer: Within this platform, beams stretch long and horizontally, mimicking the motion lines left behind when haste is
implied in comics, subconsciously suggesting a quicker rhythm; coffee, a short conversation, a fast read, then gone.

The Shopper: In contrast, this platform is dense with vertical and horizontal beams. Like hatched shading used to imply stillness and depth, this creates a layered space to slow down, browse, and get lost in the search for the right comic.

The Reader: Fully detached from the Inner Link, this space is its own world. Here, time is suspended, readers are immersed, disconnected from the spatial and social timelines around them.

The Kiosk (The Outer Link): Positioned as the relative to the Inner-Link, the Outer-Link Kiosk connects inside and out. It draws in the passerby
through a hole-in-the-wall coffee window, and anchors returning customers with its role as point of sale. It is both entry and exit, beginning and end, where all timelines pass through, however briefly.

Platform 39 isn’t just a comic store; it’s a space where five distinct uses of time unfold simultaneously. It’s a space that trusts the customer’s intuition, letting each visitor shape their own experience. Just as we read time through motion lines in comics, here, time is felt through space, and every journey, whether fleeting or prolonged, is part of the narrative.