But some businesses take their quest to be selfie-worthy way too far. Are we close to a point where we’re all sick to death of Instagrammer-magnet murals complete with promotional hashtags? Will we soon reach the end of trends that value photogenic looks over substance, even when it comes to the flavor of food? Who knows. The good news is, places still exist that manage to strike a balance between both.

View this post on Instagram

???? Milk Train Maple Tree Pot ice cream and our very own Autumn tunnel ???? TAG someone you want to take this journey into Autumn with!???????????????????????????????? Available until 29 Sep, shall we extend into Oct??? ????????

A post shared by M I L K ☁ T R A I N (@milktraincafe) on Sep 19, 2019 at 4:08am PDT

View this post on Instagram

All aboard all aboard!! ???????????????????????????????????????????????? . . ????: @travel_blogged

A post shared by M I L K ☁ T R A I N (@milktraincafe) on Aug 8, 2019 at 4:15am PDT

Check out this sweet ice cream store in London’s Covent Garden. Milk Train offers the kind of treats that stand on their own merit, like soft serve convections sitting on clouds of white cotton candy, topped with all manner of cookies, pretzels, candies, and even breakfast cereal. And when the stuff you’re selling is already manna from heaven to influencers, you might as well have a space to match.

Design firm Formroom took inspiration from art deco train stations to give the ice cream shop an iconic look. Instead of minding your step, you’ll be reminded to “mind the melt” by the double lines on the tiled floor. The counter features signs that read “order,” “arrivals,” and “collect,” while toppings are housed inside graphic interpretations of old instrument panels.

Instead of train schedules, the board on the wall displays the menu. Suitcases adorn shelves on the walls, and the booths resemble tiny train cars. The white, baby blue and pale wood color palette is appropriately cool in more ways than one.

Design publication Architronic reports: “Milk Train approached FormRoom to design and produce an immersive space that catered primarily to their diverse Instagram demographic, who propelled the brand to instant online fame in 2018. FormRoom worked with the brand to strategize and evolve upon their four core pillars: Surreal, Timeless, British, and Immersive.”

“FormRoom created a unique, dream-like landscape for the Milk Train customer. A predominately monochromatic palette is utilized to echo the art deco movement popularized amongst traditional train stations and platform iconography. Covent Garden was to provide the core brand design blueprint, by which all future sites will evolve from. Since launching, the design has generated an unprecedented response online, including being awarded ‘Best Experiential Design’ at The Drum Awards 2019 and ‘Best Café Design’ at the Restaurant and Bar Design Awards 2019.”

The shop takes advantage of it’s ultra-enticing aesthetic with undeniably cute seasonal accents like autumn leaves and spring flowers — all the better to match their corresponding seasonal ice cream offerings. Every detail has been carefully thought out, and the result is stylish and memorable instead of feeling like a passing fad.

The post Milk Train: An Art Deco Ice Cream Shop in London first appeared on Dornob.

Whether a passenger is departing or arriving, they’re sure to be shocked by the scale of West Kowloon Station. Boasting the same grandiosity as many airport terminals in Asia, the soaring roof here twists and rises like the back of a monstrous beast: a dragon of steel and glass helping to bring influence from mainland China, sneaking its way into Hong Kong only to rise its head right in the middle of West Kowloon Cultural District.

If someone wanted to take such a nefarious view of the station, they’d probably be right. Another view of the station is that of a grand palace celebrating the triumph of advanced transportation. Then there’s the benign political view — surely in the minority in the city if recent events are any indication — that the station represents a coming together of mainland China and Hong Kong. Mixed in with all of the politically-charged symbolism around the site, there are also those who see it as just great civic architecture. But no matter what, there’s no denying that the scale of this building provokes people to consider all of these competing interpretations of its form.

Since it first opened in September of 2018, visitors to West Kowloon Station have used it, and the seven acres of public space around it, as a park. Its curtain wall is made up of over 4,000 curved glass pieces, reflecting sunlight and giving the area’s many plazas and paths an extra glow. And since the roof of the station begins from the ground on one end, visitors can gently walk up steps between its garden spaces, taking in the view of the city as they climb. Don’t worry, though — this ascent is gradual and understated. Before visitors realize it, they are right on top of the highest point of the building, some 80 feet above the ground.

Aedas, the international architecture firm known for its stunning large-scale projects, designed the station’s interiors to be chalk-full of memorable moments for visitors. Here, people move through a capacious public atrium framed by 8,000 tonnes of curved steel. The ceiling is a representation of the relationship between mainland China and Hong Kong, in that it is hard to demystify patterns that exist elsewhere, either from the inside or the out. The fluidity between ceiling and roof, and between the station’s different ribbons of fenestration, is also difficult to predict. Columns rise from one part of the slab, seemingly curving to form a part of the roof, but then curving unexpectedly again to support another part of it. However, within that visual chaos are opportunities for sunlight to shine deep into this mainly underground station. As the bands of windows follow the form of the roof, they contort to create these moments where the arriving passengers can catch their bearings as they ascend from the trains. The flowing interchange between clerestories and skylights gives people an even greater sense of the city outside as they take their first steps back into the real world.

For departing passengers, the high-speed trains featured in West Kowloon get them faster to mainland China than ever before. Hongkongers now have easy access to 44 cities in the Chinese mainland, and they can even get to major Chinese hubs like Beijing and Shanghai in under 9 hours. The station has 15 tracks in total: nine of which are for long-haul trains, and the other six for regional ones. The overt division between those two types is another aspect of the architecture that has proved controversial in the country.

Although it takes several hours to get there, the influence of Beijing is still right there in the station thanks a co-location arrangement that allows mainland Chinese customs officers to screen passengers prior to boarding. Yes, departing passengers must first pass through Hong Kong customs, after which they enter a corridor called the Mainland Port Area. Along the way, they walk over a yellow line demarcating where the laws of Hong Kong end and the laws of mainland China begin. Once across the line, even before passing through mainland customs, passengers are no longer subject to Hong Kong law, even though they are still physically in Hong Kong.

This co-location operation creates a series of checks for passengers to navigate, and it all takes place underground out of reach from the sunlight in the atrium above. The arrangement can also be interpreted as yet another example of Beijing trying to encroach upon Hong Kong territory.

West Kowloon Station is a symbol of many things. It represents the converging of high-speed train lines from across China at a single massive hub. This convergence is also represented architecturally in the structure of the building, especially on the ceiling and roof. Last but not least, the station represents the converging of disparate world views. It is a work of architecture loaded in meaning: attractive enough to be a favorite location for selfies, but unsettling enough to start an uprising.

The post High-Speed Trains Converge at Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Station first appeared on Dornob.

While waiting for a train, you typically have two options. You can stand out on the platform in the weather, or you can hang out inside the station/waiting room and then deal with the mad rush through the doors when the train arrives.

ProRail, the Dutch national railway company, has decided to make the wait a bit more pleasant. They have aptly named their campaign “Prettig Wachten,” which literally translates to “pleasant wait.”

The initiative will see 20 stations across the country upgraded into happier, less stressful places to await your ride. One small town is receiving an upgrade courtesy of NL Architects that is beautifully simple in its design. Its exterior is made entirely of glass so that you can wait indoors but still easily see when your train arrives.

The design also solves the door stampede issue by making every one of the window panes a working door. When a train pulls in, everyone can get out onto the platform in no time without worrying about a bottleneck at the door. Though an all-glass exterior with endless opening doors definitely won’t provide as much shelter as a traditional building, the pavilion will still provide some refuge from the elements and a rather pleasant place to rest pre-commute.

The post Clearly Superior Design: Train Station Is All Glass Doors first appeared on Dornob.