Building study: the Elizabeth line – a welcome civic legacy designed to last 120 years

Paddington1

Source: Morley von Sternberg

From the contextual to the finely detailed, the new Elizabeth Line is an eclectic and ultimately uplifting addition to the capital’s ever expanding transport network, writes Ben Flatman

Architecture is a drawn-out business at the best of times, but anyone who has worked on transport infrastructure knows that it often pushes project timelines to the extreme. Large railway projects can consume entire careers.

As Grimshaw partner Neill McClements talks me through the line-wide design approach for the new Elizabeth line, he notes that “it’s quite a unique experience designing for such a long construction programme”. He uses the lighting as a case in point.

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