Yinka Ilori transforms Milton Keynes Station Square with colour, pattern and planting.

Photos
Stephen Chung

Milton Keynes’ Station Square has been reimagined as a large-scale artwork and public landscape in a new commission by British-Nigerian artist and designer Yinka Ilori, with landscape design by Planit. Named Walk With Your Dreams, the installation transforms one of the UK’s largest public-realm spaces into a vibrant and welcoming gateway to the city.

Unveiled this month October, the project was commissioned by Milton Keynes Development Partnership (MKDP) in collaboration with Milton Keynes City Council. It forms part of an ongoing regeneration of the city centre, which follows Milton Keynes’ award of city status in 2022 and its continuing evolution from postwar New Town to a centre of enterprise and cultural activity.

Occupying the full extent of Station Square’s new flooring, the 2D artwork takes inspiration from the city’s distinctive grid layout and from Ilori’s Nigerian heritage. The design references the symmetry and geometry of Milton Keynes’ urban plan and the traditional Yoruban dyeing technique Àdìrẹ, expressed through colourful abstract motifs. Elements such as flowers, beams of light, and concentric circles symbolise growth, progress, and community, while a dynamic palette reinforces the city’s character as youthful, diverse and forward-looking.

The work also performs a practical function by improving pedestrian wayfinding, visually guiding visitors from the railway station to the twin underpasses leading to Midsummer Boulevard, Milton Keynes’ main axis — all part of a wider programme of urban enhancement by MKDP, intended to improve connectivity and create a more legible and engaging public realm.

Framing the installation is a planting scheme by Planit, designed to echo the colour and rhythm of the artwork while introducing a biodiverse, low-maintenance landscape. The planting combines flowering perennials such as bistort, Echinacea and meadow-rue with structural grasses and evergreens, arranged in a naturalistic, prairie-inspired composition. Seasonal bulb planting ensures year-round interest and habitat value, while the raised banks create a soft edge that encloses the square and focuses attention on the artwork at its centre.

“With a thriving Nigerian community and growing arts scene, Milton Keynes is a location that aligns with my values of bringing art to wider audiences and to fostering connection and community,” said Ilori. “Despite the fast-paced environment of the station, I hope the artwork will inspire people to stop for a moment of contemplation and inner focus before moving on with their busy days. That’s what art can do for us – take us out of the everyday, allow us to think about things that are bigger than the self, where we come from and where we’re going, and bring us together on that journey.”

Founded in 1967 and granted city status in 2022, Milton Keynes today boasts more than 270 public artworks and 35 per cent green space, with the Station Square scheme adding to this legacy of public art integrated with landscape and movement. Walk With Your Dreams will remain in place for at least five years, supported by MKDP and Section 106 public art funding, and forms part of a series of creative commissions celebrating the city’s continuing transformation.

Yinka Ilori pictured standing amid Walk With Your Dreams.

“To ‘Walk With Your Dreams’ is an attitude that’s uniquely fitting to Milton Keynes, whether you’re talking about the ingenuity that imagined the New Town’s development in the first place or the energy and bold ideas that fuel our thriving city today,” added Councillor Shanika Mahendran, cabinet member for planning and placemaking, Milton Keynes City Council.

“Yinka’s artwork will be a playful way of expressing that energy and optimism and will be a fitting welcome for everyone arriving in Station Square, the gateway to our city centre.”

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