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North Greenwich Underground Station

Greenwich

Project Details

£50M or more

New Build

Practice

aLL Design

aLL Design , 1 Mortimer Street , LONDON , W1T 3JA

CLIENT London Underground SIZE 13,280 m2 YEAR 1998 North Greenwich Station has been acclaimed as perhaps the most striking of the twelve stations on London Underground's £3.5 billion Jubilee Line Extension - probably the greatest single programme of architectural patronage in post-war Britain. As the gateway to the Millennium Dome and with its associated bus link, the station has now become one of the most heavily used on the line. It is also one of the largest and forms an integrated transport interchange serving a wide area of south-east London, serving the Millennium Village and other developments on the peninsula. The context for the scheme was a cleared site, with no existing buildings: the site for the station was determined by the alignment of the line, which crosses the Thames twice between Canary Wharf and Canning Town. The scheme as built provided for a cut-and cover approach, with the station totally enclosed by a 'lid' - with provision for a subsequent 'air rights' development. The dynamic form of the station is memorable and provides a clear and comprehensible diagram - a prime objective in all JLE stations and a sharp contrast to the confined and confusing spaces of most older Underground stations. Equally memorable is the bold use of colour. Blue mosaic coats the main columns, while deep blue glass is used as a wall cladding. These precise finishes contrast with the exposed concrete and suspended services of the roof. As large as any mainline station, it explores older traditions in station design to create a building which mixes clarity of purpose with rich allusion and metaphor to create a point of arrival for a new quarter of London.