CHARING CROSS

London

Concept. Opening the station’s forecourt to the city, and the city to its platforms.

Views

The opened forecourt, the Eleanor Cross at the centre, the sunken garden leading down to the concourse

Drawings

Aerial site plan, the scheme between Trafalgar Square and the Strand — The site. Between Trafalgar Square and the river, where everyone crosses and nobody stays.

Plan of the opened forecourt, terraces, planting and the cross at its centre

Roof plan, the glazed gabled canopy drawn from the rhythm of the station roof — The canopy. Gabled bays of glass, drawn from the rhythm of the station’s own roof.

Concourse level plan, the retail room threading to the Underground and the platforms — One level down. The concourse threads between the escalators, the shops and the platforms.

The main drawing sheet of the intervention

Project Brief

The forecourt of Charing Cross, where the Strand meets Trafalgar Square, is a place everyone crosses and nobody stays. The proposal opens the ground. The forecourt sinks one level to meet the Underground concourse, daylight reaches the ticket hall, and the Eleanor Cross keeps its place, no longer marooned in a taxi rank but standing at the centre of a public room.

A glazed canopy of gabled bays, drawn from the rhythm of the station’s own roof, covers the new edge of shops and cafes. Below, a concourse threads between the escalators and the platforms. Along the Strand the street is rebalanced for the person on foot, wider pavements, calmer lanes, so the station stops being an obstacle between Trafalgar Square and the river and becomes a way through.

A concept by Pierre Zebouni. Design, drawings and visualisation by Pierre Zebouni. London.

All work