Elizabeth Line, when the infrastructure celebrates the architecture of the “fourth dimension”
in ARCHITETTURA | architecture
© Hufton + Crow I The Elizabeth Line.
The Elizabeth Line won the Stirling Prize, the most prestigious architecture award in the United Kingdom, which since 1996 the Royal Institute of British Architects (Riba) has awarded to the best new building in the country. The award, named after the well-known Scottish architect James Stiring (1926-1992), recognizes RIBA members only. These bonuses are awarded to buildings that show “high architectural standards and substantial contribution to the local environment”. Until 2014 the potential winning building could have been located anywhere in the European Union, but since 2015 entries have only been accepted from within the UK. Only six completed projects, which must have received a RIBA National Award, are eligible for selection. Previously, the award carried a prize of £20,000, but currently carries no monetary compensation. The winner of this latest edition was announced during a ceremony on 16 October at the Roundhouse in London. The 2024 RIBA Stirling Prize jury was chaired by Muyiwa Oki, President of the RIBA, and consisted of: Mary Duggan, director of Mary Duggan Architects; Yana Peel, global head of arts and culture at Chanel (Lay Assessor); Minna Sunikka-Blank, Professor of Architecture and Environmental Policy at the University of Cambridge (Sustainability Consultant), Alex Ely, founding director of Mæ (winner of the 2023 RIBA Stirling Prize); and David Light, Director of EMEA ECS Consulting at Autodesk, sponsor of the 2024 RIBA Stirling Prize.
© Hufton + Crow I The Elizabeth Line.
In the past the RIBA had awarded transit architectures – see Waterloo International Railway Station (London), by Nicholas Grimshaw, which won the RIBA Building of the Year Award in 1994; and the Stirling Prize 2006 with Barajas Airport Terminal 4 (Madrid) by Richard Rogers Partnership – but never an infrastructure. The rail line, previously known as Crossrail before being renamed in honor of Queen Elizabeth II, opened in 2022 and includes a network of 62 miles of track, 26 miles of new tunnels, 10 new stations and 31 upgraded existing ones. The system, designed by Grimshaw, Maynard, Equation and AtkinsRéalis, crosses the English capital, connecting the suburban fringes of London: Reading and Heathrow to the west with Essex and the south-east (Shenfield and Abbey Wood). The current passenger load is more than 700,000 users per weekday for a total of 200 million passengers per year. This is the most important infrastructure project since the beginning of this century in all of Europe.
© Hufton + Crow I The Elizabeth Line.
With ten new stations (Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, Whitechapel, Canary Wharf, Custom House, Woolwich and Abbey Wood), the line not only relieves congestion and improves mobility, but also supports more extensive regeneration of the capital – demonstrating its social, economic and environmental value to London’s future, as well as a promotional image factor for the whole country. Modern and efficient architecture played a key role in this operation, the success of which is the result of intense collaboration between the multidisciplinary team of architects, engineers, designers as well as manufacturers and suppliers. The planning of the line was managed by the Grimshaw, Maynard, AtkinsRéalis team – who are the authors who won the award -, while the team that oversaw the architectural design of the 10 new stations had as its protagonists the firms: John McAslan + Partners, Weston Williamson + Partners, Hawkins\Brown, AHR (formerly Aedas), Wilkinson Eyre, BDP, Adamson Associates, Allies and Morrison and Fereday Pollard.
© Hufton + Crow I The Elizabeth Line.
Such an infrastructure feat was not an easy one, as the project had to traverse London’s geological layers – some stations reach up to 9 storeys deep below street level – carefully avoiding the foundations of existing buildings, many of which sides and with underground floors, and the capital’s vast sewer system. Six million tons of earth, excavated to make space for tunnels, has been reused to create a new nature reserve in Essex. Imagine a city dotted with construction sites everywhere. An army of workers, engineers and machinery that work incessantly, day and night, to dig underground in London. And this for years. Every meter of tunnel stolen was a challenge, a puzzle to solve. Yet, despite the difficulties, the project was successfully completed, demonstrating man’s ingenuity and determination. But perhaps the most audacious undertaking is having maintained the operability of the entire rail mobility system of the capital during the construction of the work. In fact, the stations of the Elizabeth Line interchange with the existing multimodal railway network of the metropolis, first of all the London Underground. A pharaonic work summarized in the Transport for London (TfL) tube map.
© Hufton + Crow I The Elizabeth Line.
This new mass transit network was designed to offer a unique travel experience that goes beyond simple functionality. The attention to design, with soft lines and precious materials, creates an elegant and welcoming atmosphere. The soft lighting and sound-absorbing materials contribute to a pleasant sensorial experience, transforming the subway journey into a moment of relaxation. Every architectural element, from the sinuous curves of the walls to the escalators, has been designed to intuitively guide passengers and create a strong and coherent visual identity. In this way, the subway becomes a place where aesthetics merges with functionality, offering a comfortable and almost domestic “travel story”. Lighting is a key element that becomes satiated, creating an intimate, welcoming, enveloping and reassuring atmosphere in a continuous game of gradual transition between warm and cold light, between diffused and focused light, capable of creating a sense of depth and dynamism, without ever being intrusive. A continuous, diffused, expertly modulated light, which welcomes and accompanies travelers as they exit the trains to the exits of the stations, passing through the connecting routes and vice versa.
© Hufton + Crow I The Elizabeth Line.
London is a city that pulsates with life. In the heart of this ever-evolving metropolis, this new infrastructure has made a deep furrow, not only in the land, but also in the lives of its inhabitants. The Elizabeth Line is an engineering feat of extraordinary complexity, it is much more than a simple means of transport. It is a symbol of progress, a catalyst for change and a bridge that unites neighborhoods and communities. Each station, with its unique architecture and connections, tells a story of its own, a chapter in the book of the transformation of the British capital. Today, traveling on this new line, you have the feeling of being part of something big, of participating in the construction of the future, all with the sensation of being inside a gigantic architecture of the “fourth dimension”.
© Hufton + Crow I The Elizabeth Line.