London, United Kingdom
Grimshaw Architects, in collaboration with wayfinding and product designers Maynard Design, engineering firm Atkins, and lighting designers Equation, have teamed up with client Crossrail to design and develop London’s newest underground addition, “The Elizabeth Line.”
Together, they aim to deliver a unified design across the entire line, ensuring a seamless, intuitive, and consistent experience for passengers.
“London has a long history of line-wide design which has always been about creating a common thread to the passenger experience across our dense, highly populated city, and our design strategy for the Elizabeth line is no different. Working with Crossrail and the whole design team the line-wide design strategy has delivered a seemingly effortless travel environment that is intuitive, accessible, safe, and enjoyable.” — Neill McClements, Partner, Grimshaw
The project has been awarded a 2024 International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The new line serves 41 stations running 100km east to west across the city through 42km of new tunnels.
It includes 10 new central London stations and the upgrading of 31 existing stations.
It is estimated to ultimately carry 200 million passengers per year, increasing the capacity of London’s underground railway network by 10%.
The line-wide design encompasses the platforms, passenger tunnels, escalators, and station concourses, including signage, bespoke furniture, fittings, finishes, and technology creating a “family of elements.”
Taking its cue from the engineering feat of the new line – the complexity and scale of the project – one of the defining features of the design is the treatment of the passenger tunnels and platforms.
At almost double the length and height of standard London Underground stations, these spaces are clad in glass fiber reinforced concrete (GRFC) which “shrink-wraps” the structure – sitting tightly against the sprayed concrete finish of the structural lining.
This creates a fluid, vast environment with curved junctions in the passenger tunnels which increases sightlines, alleviates the below-ground experience, and improves passenger flow and safety.
Cool lighting characterizes the active, passing spaces of the passenger tunnels, and a diffused, warmer lighting, is integrated into the platform edge screens and throws light down and onto the GRFC cladding, creating the calmer, dwell spaces of the platforms.
The common components of the line-wide design are informed and refined through an inclusive design approach leaving an integrated and also simplified maintenance program – with infrastructure that requires minimal intervention and disruption on this London’s most significant contribution to city travel in 20 years.
Project: The Elizabeth Line
Architects: Grimshaw Architects
Engineering: Atkins
Graphics and Products Designers: Maynard Design
Lighting Designers: Equation Lighting Designers
Client: Crossrail Ltd.
Photographers: Hufton + Crow
