Ethio-Djibouti Railway

Railway Ride Waiting Room

A ride starts in the queue. Before riders board the six-axis train simulator in the visitor centre, they wait in this room. I designed it as a prologue: a green box wrapped in engraved murals of the railway's three ages, with the company mark, the reception and the doors into the ride all drawn into the same picture.

Industry
Ethio-Djibouti Railway
Type
Interior & Graphics
Role
Spatial designer
Tools
3ds Max, Rhino, D5 Render, Photoshop, Illustrator
Period
2024
Railway Ride Waiting Room image 1
Railway Ride Waiting Room image 2
Railway Ride Waiting Room image 3

A century on four walls

The murals run in order around the room: a steam locomotive under the mountains for the first century, the diesel that ran the old metre-gauge line through the desert, the electric freight trains of today under their catenary. A text wall carries the story from Menelik II to the standard gauge.

Drawn, then built as drawn

The render leads this page. This is the photograph, a year later. The panels were drawn as engravings in one green and one line weight, so a 1917 steam engine and a 2016 electric locomotive read as one book. The chairs came out brighter and three flags arrived. The rest is drawing.

Closing thoughts

Most waiting rooms apologise for the wait. This one uses it. Five minutes on the sofa is enough to read the century you are about to ride through.

InteriorMuralsBrand2024