So the vision for
Paddington Elizabeth line station was part of a wider vision for Paddington as a whole
we've been involved in Paddington since 2007 and generated a master plan it's unique in many ways
amongst the Elizabeth line stations because it is right next to such a big terminal station and such
an integral part of it and it's a great station but it did have problems and we always saw the
new infrastructure that was required to build the Elizabeth line as a huge opportunity to try and
solve some of the some of the issues that Paddington had generated over the last 150 years
two key things sat behind the vision one is to use new civic open space to reconnect
the station to the city and the other is to kind of within that space to extend the
presence of Paddington what is this truly great building we're extending that infrastructure
and this station should feel like it is part of Paddington station not in a kind of pastiche way
but in that the kind of DNA of Paddington station creeps into the architecture of this station
Brunel always said that the station is a great interior with no external presence
so the challenge for us was because we felt the station as did Brunel that we felt the station
should have a bigger external presence so the challenge was can we make a great I suppose really
great external spaces to reconnect Paddington to complement Brunel's great internal space and
make some kind of sense of that spatial sequence and even though this is an underground station
it has a spatial grandeur and a scale that complements the space of the station next door
secondly it's the engineering approach where the engineering is very much on display
very similar to the way that Brunel and Digby Wyatt approached the original station and thirdly
is to do with the detail the detail on the original Paddington station is perhaps
more about decoration but it it's also aligned very strongly with a 10-foot grid
which is a module that was picked up actually from the original Crystal Palace
so while we haven't taken a decorative approach on this station what we have done is incorporate
detailing which picks up and exploits that 10-foot grid so there's a large opening I
think about 90 meters long in that public realm and people descend through these escalators
or down the lifts behind me which are at the heart of the design so the experience of using it as
if if your mobility impaired in some way or if you've got luggage is just as
kind of impressive I suppose as coming down the escalators when you step off the train onto the
platform from certain points on the platform you can see clearly all the way through the station
you can see the space beyond you can see the canopy 30 meters above your head you
can see natural light and you can see the building of original Paddington station
through the canopy then you come up and arrive in this concourse on the escalators and from
there all of a sudden you are experiencing the public realm the connectivity to the public realm
and it's absolutely clear where to go there's very little need for signage because the natural
light the space provides the signage there's a lot of engineering challenges on a project like
this you know which are all to do with about how it's engineered how you actually build it
we originally had columns at six meter centers through the station we really wanted to
create a more spacious feel so we had a great engineering team on it and we've removed every
two out of every three columns so now we have columns at 18 meter centers which is quite a feat
in a in a station this size and that gave us some challenges we have enormous shear forces
on that slab above which supports the road without the columns getting large
we incorporated these large elliptical capitals to the column which became part of the architectural
motif that gave us the opportunity to sculpt the concrete between on that 10-foot grid with
creating these circular recesses in the ceiling which is all part of the way the structure works
and that gave us the opportunity to introduce lighting gave us a rhythm for the lighting the
opportunity to also introduce sort of specific areas of up lighting which really lifts
the ceiling particularly on the platform the contractor's done a fantastic job really with
putting these in and helping us with the design I suppose we wanted a simple pallet we wanted simple
clarity we're in a big hole in the ground so it was kind of appropriate to use earthy materials
to kind of slice through the clay which is the brickwork the mineral qualities of the bronze
the brick and the bronze respond and really begin to glow when they're when they're under
that natural sunlight it's very important to have it's very important to have that warmth
so to create that new public realm we needed to move the taxi facility from this side of the
station to the new taxi facility on the north side of the station and that was a project which took
seven eight years to complete and was and was done as phase one of this project because that
cleared the site for these works to happen and one of the key features of the public realm is
while we've used crossrail standard handrail most places we've actually managed to incorporate all
of the original handrailing that was designed as part of the station when Brunel did it in 1853
and that's been incorporated at each end of the station where we've adopted that and incorporated
the original railings in the same manner that they were used on the original station the canopy is
probably the the biggest feature of this station the most recognizable piece of this station
certainly above ground and within the public realm the canopy is about 110 meters long it's
about half the size of a football field and that's what covers the station protects the
station and allows light to flood in it was always very important to us to really treat the existing
station with respect so the connection between the existing station and all of the new public realm
which it's above and this station is really quite subtle Brunel built the Clock Arch as they call it
which is a subtle connection between the inside and the outside of the station
so we've replicated that in a very modern way in what's called the Crossrail Arch and that's a
very simple opening using the existing arches and then it turns into a much wider space flares out
the same materials that we use in the station and opens out onto the public realm and this volume
the Crossrail project gives an opportunity to transform the Paddington area and to create this
civic space so think about all the people arriving in Heathrow and then moving forward trying to
reach central London they will come here pass through Paddington so that's what we created a
new station a new gateway for the capital I think I look forward to see people enjoying the space
because for the moment it's empty and it's going to be really exciting for me to see coming to life
with people traveling every day with the coffee cup and and really enjoy their
travel to work perhaps or you know the time to go on holiday because this will be the
station they will pass through when they go to Heathrow so yeah it will be very exciting