02.12.15
LU launches design blueprint for all elements of future stations
London Underground (LU) has unveiled today an extensive new design vision that will ultimately dictate how every aspect of future station architecture and ambiance will be carried out.
The LU Station Design Idiom, developed with Studio Egret West, is intended to ensure that all stations in the capital build upon the network’s heritage while maintaining uniformly high standards of design and local character.
The principles outlined in the Idiom cover every component of the city’s stations, from small-scale repairs to major refurbishment and entirely new buildings.
Based on nine key values, the blueprint will help LU conserve and create stations that provide uncluttered spaces for customers, act as a focal point of the local community, showcase the capital’s architecture and represent its contemporary culture.
Daniel Moylan, chairman of the mayor’s Design Advisory Group, said: “The Advisory Group welcomes the Idiom and its considered approach to the future look and feel of LU’s station estate.
“Of particular note is the focus on ensuring that customer environments are both functional and inspirational, celebrating heritage features where they currently exist and integrating world leading works of art where appropriate. The Idiom represents a great step forward in station design, and the Group looks forward to seeing it rolled out across the network in the coming years.”
The nine values that will dictate future stations include prioritising comfort for staff and customers, using materials to create atmospheric spaces, creating ambiance with lighting, integrating products, considering wholeness and even ‘delight and surprise’.
Stations will also be steered by comfort, security, widespread accessibility and commercial integration.
David West, from Studio Egret West, said the project comes at a “pivotal point in the network’s evolution”.
“Not since the days of Frank Pick [responsible for commissioning classic Tube posters] has there been such an opportunity to holistically rethink the network’s design approach. Nine key principles shape the Design Idiom with Balance, where the iconic roundel is used to demonstrate the crucial balance between network consistency and local specificity,” he added.
The document’s launch is part of a string of events and exhibitions in ‘Transported by Design’, a programme led by Transport for London and the London Transport Museum. As part of the programme, for example, a poll of over 10,000 Londoners recently selected Bombardier’s S-Stock Tube Trains as one of the top 10 transport designs in the capital.