A Village Made of Tube Trains

Village Underground has caused many double-takes since opening in east London in April. This set of studios and offices are an unexpected sight - after all, they're located inside four disused tube carriages perched on the roof of a Victorian warehouse. These relatively cheap workspaces have become a magnet for local creative people, including jewellery designers, architects and film makers.

Furniture designer Auro Foxcroft had the idea for Village Underground four years ago, while looking for his own studio space in London. "I thought the trains would be cheap, and I knew I could do the architecture and building stuff myself," he says.

Auro searched for a suitable location for his trains for two years, before finding the current site in Shoreditch. The local council allowed Auro to put them on top of a warehouse, as long as he also did up the derelict building below. Fourteen hours, a few lorries and one enormous crane later, the tubes were installed on the roof.

The skinny offices have proved popular with all kinds of artists, who are typically always hunting for cheap workspaces. Auro says: "at the moment we've got film makers, jewellery designers, scriptwriters, photographers, fashion designers, architects... I try to keep a cross-section of disciplines and types of people.

"The space attracts creative types - but of a 'neat-creative' rather than 'messy-creative' nature. There isn't enough space to throw paint around!"

Auro now plans to extend Village Underground into Europe. He's off to Berlin this month to start location hunting. "I want to set up a network, so that people from one city can rock up in another city and have somewhere to work," he explains.

Village Underground has already established a small creative network up on that roof in east London, where the huddled workspaces cause people to collaborate and comment on their neighbour's work.

One tenant travels across the city everyday just to enjoy such a unique office. "I travel one and a half hours on a train to get here, then sit in this train for eight hours, then get on another train to go home. Sometimes I wonder what I'm doing," he says. "But it's an amazing place to work. I'd walk here if I had to."

In conclusion, it's just like being on the tube - but with artier fellow passengers and fewer rats. And fresh air. Score!

Click play below to watch a video filmed at Village Underground