It’s Nice That’s Double Take installation launches at Coal Drops Yard this week

It’s Nice That is taking over London’s new shopping and dining destination, Coal Drops Yard, with a large-scale installation called Double Take. From this Friday, anyone wandering around the stunning site, which was designed by Heatherwick Studio, will encounter five colourful newcomers, who will be inhabiting the spaces between archways, interacting with the contours of the buildings, and hiding around the unique architecture. They’re guaranteed to make you stop in your tracks and take another look.

This Thursday evening (3 October), It’s Nice That and Coal Drops Yard will be hosting a preview of the installation. There will be beers courtesy of House of Cans, featuring labels specially designed by It’s Nice That for the occasion. This is your first chance to amble round the space and spot the five giant and playful sculptures, which It’s Nice That has created with spatial designers Isabel + Helen.

If you’d like to join us for the preview, please send an email to rsvp@itsnicethat.com to let us know you’re coming. We’ll be gathering on the viaduct level underneath the kissing roof, from 6pm on Thursday, come rain or shine! The installation will then be in situ and visible at Coal Drops Yard for five weeks until 6 November.

Double Take will not simply live in the nooks and crannies of Coal Drops Yard, however. It will also be popping up on Instagram, as It’s Nice That takes over the @coaldropsyard account with the help of incredibly talented animators Arina Shabanova, Eva Cremers, Jaedoo Lee, Wang & Soderstrom, Raman Djafari and Milo Targett.

These creatives, hailing from all over the world, will bring their own unique twists to the architectural forms and shapes of the celebrated Coal Drops Yard identity. Working with us at It’s Nice That, the selected animators have been tasked with bringing the identity to life in digital form, much as the sculptures will be animating the bricks and mortar of the architecture in real life.

So, if you’re in London this autumn, head down to Coal Drops Yard in King’s Cross and keep your eyes peeled for our colourful cast of characters. If you’re based elsewhere, fear not – you can check out the @coaldropsyard Instagram account to see our animated takeover take off. Either way, just don’t forget to Double Take.

Coal Drops Yard is a new shopping and restaurant district in London’s King’s Cross. Coal Drops Yard was originally established in 1850 to handle the eight million tonnes of coal delivered to the capital each year, and was latterly the location of nightclubs Bagley’s and The Cross. The area reopened in October 2018, reinvented by the acclaimed Heatherwick Studio, which has interwoven a contemporary design with the surviving structures and rich ironwork of the original Victorian coal drops.

Located within a reimagined set of historic buildings and arches directly adjacent to Granary Square and Regent’s Canal, Coal Drops Yard houses over fifty stores from a unique mix of established and emerging brands, along with cafes, bars, top independent restaurants and new public spaces.