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Guardian critic Rowan Moore on London’s coming underground colossus

2022-03-14T21:46:00-04:00

This megalopolis of engineering currently lies there, pristine, unspotted by gum or pigeon, with its 319-tonne trains gliding quietly through every few minutes, empty, so that those operating the system can familiarise themselves with the choreography of all that heavy metal. Electronic indicator boards announce their coming with white digits, a notch classier than the orange ones on the old tube.

Moore described the nearly empty £18.33 billion ($23.84 billion) project as an “alternative universe” before likening the transition between the new Elizabeth line and older Central Underground to a scene from (attempted architecture critic) Lewis Caroll’s Alice in Wonderland.

The full line is expected to be complete by 2023. Hopes were for the originally planned construction to end in 2018, before being pushed back three separate times owing to the pandemic and a variety of other causes. The expansion will eventually feature a motley slate of new stations from Hawkins\Brown and other big-name firms, but Moore doesn’t expect the enormous feat to be repeated any time soon, given the rise of certain ascendant technologies in the role of city planning.

“It can take a generation, in other words, to make something such as this happen. Since we are in a climate emergency, whatever environmental benefits may come from further such splurges on public transport – which incur upfront carbon ...

Subway flooding is getting worse as a result of extreme weather

2021-07-27T12:45:00-04:00

Subway systems around the world are struggling to adapt to an era of extreme weather brought on by climate change. Their designs, many based on the expectations of another era, are being overwhelmed, and investment in upgrades could be squeezed by a drop in ridership brought on by the pandemic.

New York is still repairing damages to its subway system caused nearly a decade ago by Hurricane Sandy as the installation of certain protective also lags behind schedule. Coastal cities like New York and Boston are facing nine-digit pricetags as they prepare their populations for climate change in earnest.

12 people died aboard a flooded subway car last week in Zhengzhou, China. London underground riders have been rained out as well.

The New York Times has more on the rising concern here.

Savvy entrepreneurs grow fresh vegetables deep beneath London city streets

2019-09-16T14:52:00-04:00

Deep beneath the streets of Clapham, London, in a former air raid shelter, Steve Dring and his colleagues are farming. Vertical farming, that is. The company Dring co-founded, Growing Underground, is cultivating a wide range of vegetables and herbs in vertically-stacked trays in the confined space. It’s part of a growing trend in Europe and the U.S.

Marketplace visits Growing Underground, a cutting-edge vertical farm inside a converted WWII-era air raid bunker 100 feet beneath London.

"If we were growing peas out in the open, we’d have three crops a year," the company's cofounder Steve Dring tells the reporter. "Here, we get 62 crops a year because we’re precisely giving the plants exactly what they want, all year round."

View this post on Instagram Great to have @bbcbreakfast filming LIVE on the farm yesterday! Go to @bbcbreakfast for full film!! . Repost @bbcbreakfast This farm makes salad ingredients 33m under Clapham . . #growingunderground #undergroundfarm #sustainablefood #sustainability #agritech #bbcnews #sustainableliving #sustainablefarm #healthyfood #microherbs #eventbrite #microgreens #healthysalad #nutrition #foodwaste #foodies #growingundergroundtour #plantpower #health #undergroundlondon #verticalfarming #futurefood #futurecities #agritech #urbanfarming #agriculture #urbanagriculture
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PLP Architecture conceives of automated, underground "CarTube" for London

2016-12-08T12:45:00-05:00

Imagine driving into London not on surface streets, but rather in an underground tube with automated, moving tracks designed specifically for electric cars. Like a kind of subterranean track-laden ferry, which drivers would be able to individually join and exit at numerous points, this "CarTube" concept is the work of Lars Hesselgren's research team at PLP Architecture.

Although the proposal uses London as a starting point, the firm isn't limiting it to the U.K., as this Guardian article notes:

If the project’s goal is to reduce street-level congestion, then is a city like London (which already has an extensive public transport system and congestion charge) its prime target? “London is our case study, but chances are it will get built somewhere else where people are desperate for a solution,” Hesselgren says, listing Mexico City, Delhi, Jakarta and Mumbai as the sorts of gridlock-heavy cities that could benefit from the CarTube. “This kind of approach in those places could really make...

A new London Tube map shows walking times between stations

2015-11-11T05:41:00-05:00

Transport bosses have unveiled the first official map showing the walking times between central London's Tube stations. The comprehensive plan highlights the time it takes to travel on foot between almost all of the stations on London’s Underground network. [Transport for London] Chief Executive Gordon Innes said: “The Tube is the most used transport method by visitors in London, stations for many of our top attractions are within walking distance of each other.

You can download the new map here.

Multi-media art interventions coming to London's Victoria tube line

2015-07-01T11:40:00-04:00

The project, called Underline, will include the underground’s first music commission and a plan by the Turner prize-nominated architectural collective Assemble to improve what is regarded as one of the most unloved station exits on the entire network, at Seven Sisters in north London.

Organized by "Art on the Underground", a group that curates contemporary artworks for display in the London Underground, the new project will bring a variety of art, music and architectural interventions to the Victoria Line. Commissions selected to be part of the Underline are not simply public art projects – the interventions involve real proposals to improving the quality of experience for both commuters and workers on London's tube.

The whole tube line is under the curatorial purview, with architecture firm Assemble selected to focus particularly the Seven Sisters stop, known for its "anti-social behaviour problems". Artist Giles Round's Underline project, called "Design Work Leisure", will produce "prototypes of functional objects that can be used on the tube: a new ceramic tile for patch repairs on the existing tiles, for example, or new clocks, lighting or direction signs." Film and musical performances will also pepper the Victoria Line during Underline's run.

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Amazon Reportedly Eyeing Up London Underground Ticket Offices As Delivery Drop-Off Points

2013-11-22T14:05:00-05:00

[...] London’s mayor, Boris Johnson, who yesterday announced that almost all ticket offices on the London Underground transport network would close by 2015 [...]. There are 268 ticket offices on the network in total, and around 260 are set to close [...] Ecommerce giant Amazon is reportedly in talks with Transport for London to use the closed ticket offices as “drop off” points for deliveries.

It makes plenty of sense for Amazon to be eyeing up prime Tube real-estate — which could enable it to build out a whole conveniently-sited network of its delivery Lockers in the U.K. Capital — giving London’s commuters a handy stop-off point to get their goods.