A giant "liner" 310 m long, 32 m wide and 24 m high above the water either docked or sank in the so-called North Docks of Dog Island (Isle of Dogs - it is on it that the famous business district of London Canary Wharf is located). The facility will become part of the Crossrail railway line: 136 km of its tracks will cut the metropolis from west to east. The most complex project, which is planned to be implemented by 2019, will cost 14.8 billion pounds. A well-designed system of underground tunnels under the historic center, the total length of which will be 42 km, will connect 30 existing and 10 new stations and will completely change the entire complex transport system of the British capital.
There is really something fantastic in the construction of Foster + Partners, from the novels of Jules Verne, for example, it is quite consistent with the ambitions of the entire Crossrail project. But only adjusted for absolute realism and amazing practicality. The underwater underground part - the railway station itself - is planned to be completed in 2018, but for now the upper 4 floors are open to the public, uniting shops, cafes, restaurants and an indoor city park with recreation areas with a total area of 3000 m2. To get to the completely water-surrounded facility, which is officially called the "Crossrail Place Retail and Roof Garden", you can only use two pedestrian bridges.
As usual, Foster creates a project at the intersection of architecture and engineering. The main character is a cylindrical roof made of crossed wooden beams. There are 1418 of them (4 of them are curved) and they are made of Canadian spruce (glued laminated timber is partially used). The natural "warm" material, as conceived by the architects, should create a contrasting combination with the facades of office centers made of glass and metal and with their own concrete structures and facade glazing of the station. At the ends, the roof forms 22-meter rounded canopies that complicate the silhouette and at the same time protect the viewing terraces.
The joints of the complex roof structure are reinforced with steel elements, the overwhelming majority of which are unique in their shape and allow joining the beams at different angles. As a result, 1042 triangular holes are formed, 75% of which are covered with double fluoroplastic cushions. The air between the layers of the material helps to create the necessary microclimate inside the garden. The remaining 25% of the triangles are open. Basically, they are concentrated in the center, above the garden, and provide the penetration of rainwater and sunlight necessary for plants. The park itself is planted with ferns, bamboo, hydrangeas, pachisandras, as well as species that are more capricious and rare for the London climate: the Mysterious Island is supposed to.
