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LONDON BRIDGE STATION - THAMES LINK 2000 STATION REDEVELOPMENT


Comprehensive redesign of station concourse, addition of 3 tracks and platforms. Consultations into the commercial possibilities of the site, considering investment secured for the new Thames Link.

Consultations for tracks and platform layout optimisation. Presentations to Railtrack Plc., Southwark Council, Highways Authority, London Transport Plc., CABE, and English Heritage. Planning application submitted - June 1999. Transport and traffic strategy; Concourse design; vertical circulation design; Air-rights building; Bus station and taxi rank design; 3D modeling of concourse proposals; and design of platform canopies.

Suraj was employed as a trainee architect at TP Bennett. Following are elements of work that Suraj was either partly or wholly responsible for producing:

Existing london bridge track layout.

Survey of existing london bridge tracks and arches overlayed on OS map and grid.

Proposed track layout with additional through tracks.

Platform layouts.

Proposed London Bridge street level plan showing extent of brick-arched abutments to be cleared to create the new north-south linking street and the main entry hub to the new London Bridge Station; the plan below also shows the new pedestrian access ramps and vehicular traffic management on tooley street.

The designs needed to cater for pedestrian flows in excess of 50,000 pedestrians per hour. Diagrams below show vehicular and pedestrian movement options with section showing possible ramp layouts.

Design of 'tree' structures by Alan Baxter carrying new platforms and the air-rights building with escalator links from concourse level up to individual platforms threaded through their legs. Suraj was involved in 3d modelling of the forms and spaces.

These 'tree' structures were a neat solution to carry the three levels of structure on a very tight footprint as well as allowing escalator links from concourse level up to individual platforms. However, to get passengers from street level to the concourse level, we needed a bank of 11 escalators, 2 MIP lifts, and 8m wide stairs; these no matter where you placed them tended to: a) ruin the architectural quality of the new through street, and b) form an uninspiring entrance to one of the most important stations on the Britain's rail network. Suraj was asked to take part in a workshop to come up with solutions to this problem.

Diagram above shows the final track and platform layout highlighting the natural triangular void between the through and the terminating platforms.

Suraj produced three concourse access options along with an air-rights building designed to take advantage of this triangular void where no platform was necessary. The model on the right is a model of the last sketch on the left. It shows how mass pedestrian movement could take place on this wide 1:15 ramp fitted within this triangular void, eliminating the need for any escalators. It would be one continuous street rising up gently to the new station concourse with retail stores flanking it all the way, and with clear daylight above.

The sketches below explain the nature of the Air-rights office building to be proposed above this void. The tringular void would be continued through the office building in form of an atrium, such that the passengers on the ramp beneath would experience a cathedral like volume of light-filled space above them:

Proposed bus station, taxi rank, air-rights office and retail piazza.

Proposed air-rights office escalator link.

Light study and visualisation of the proposed street level concourse. Suraj worked with a professional visualiser to produce these.