King's Cross Station

Location: London, UK

Architecture: John McAslan + Partners (JMP)

The brief for King's Cross was varied: create an architecturally welcoming space that was visually stunning and fully operational. It needed to be able to serve both mainline, intercity platforms and trains as well as providing a near seamless interchange for passengers headed to the Underground. The result, devised by John McAslan + Partners (JMP) and Arup, is a semicircular concourse that aids pedestrian flow between connection points. It also provides space for waiting or arriving passengers with clear viewing points for information, trains and conveniences.

Materials are high quality and light-reflecting; the mezzanine balcony is clad in white ceramic mosaic tiling, and the floor of the concourse is light, flamed granite. The roof is a web of light circular steel tubes, splayed out in diagrid form that pays homage to the listed Victorian train sheds at St Pancras and King's Cross. This design also provides a solution to two major structural problems: that the ticket hall for the Underground was being constructed below the concourse at the same time, and that the scheme could not apply any loads to the adjacent Grade I listed Western Range facade.

All photos: Hufton + Crow