Bronze Plaques
By Marina Willer, commissioned by Tideway
Designer Marina Willer of Pentagram was commissioned by Tideway to create a unifying visual identity for a series of bronze plaques installed at 12 locations across London. Marina was invited to pitch for this project as recognition of her long time passion for street covers and following the success of her project Overlooked. Now part of the V&A permanent collection, overlooked is a series of prints made of rubbings of street covers across London.
Marina and her team developed a bespoke artwork that reflects the transformational significance of the Thames Tideway Tunnel for London, while honouring the contribution of more than 20,000 people who helped deliver a cleaner River Thames.
The design celebrates the concept of London as a melting pot of cultures and also expresses the fluidity of the river where the project is centred.
Each plaque features a moiré interference pattern – created by overlaying similar but slightly offset forms – with a central disc as its primary visual element. The undulating surface interruptions, articulated through varying levels of bronze relief, evoke the movement of water and echo the tunnel’s circular form.
Inscribed along the outer edge of each plaque are the words:
‘THAMES TIDEWAY TUNNEL CONSTRUCTED 2016–2024’,
alongside the celebratory statement:
‘A HIDDEN FEAT OF ENGINEERING AND THE WORK OF 20,000’
Each plaque measures 600 x 600 mm and is installed at key locations across the city:
West London: Putney Embankment, King George’s Park, and Carnwath Riverside
Central London: Chelsea Quay, Heathwall Quay, Effra Quay, Tyburn Quay and Bazalgette Embankment
East London: Chambers Wharf, Earl Pumping Station, Deptford Church Street, and King Edward Memorial Park
These plaques now stand as lasting markers of an extraordinary civic achievement – one both hidden beneath the city and deeply embedded in its future.
The designer has said: It was an absolute honour to design a new street cover (plaque) for this important project that replaces the Victoria sewage across the river Thames. It was very exciting to design with my team an object that transcends our area of specialism and will be in many spots around London for much longer than our existence.
