The new King’s Cross railway station concourse in photos

Photos of the new King's Cross concourse, designed by John McAslan and Partners, London. March 2012

Designed by John McAslan and Partners, the stunning new roof at King’s Cross station forms part of a half billion project to create a “transport super-hub” in time for the Olympics.

Photos of the new King's Cross concourse, designed by John McAslan and Partners, London. March 2012

Situated betwixt the breathtaking Gothic splendour of St Pancras station and the attractively austere façade of the original 1852 Kings Cross station, the new semi-circular concourse provides space for the rapidly expanding numbers of passengers using the station.

Photos of the new King's Cross concourse, designed by John McAslan and Partners, London. March 2012

The building triples the available circulation space and serves departing passengers only, with arriving passengers exiting through the original front doors of the station (the horrendous 1970s ‘temporary’ buildings in front of the station will be demolished later this year).

Photos of the new King's Cross concourse, designed by John McAslan and Partners, London. March 2012

The 7,500 square-metre, two-storey concourse is dominated by its white metal roof, engineered by Arup, who say it, “rises up a great steel stalk in the centre and then spreads into a tree-like canopy of intersecting branches, before descending into a ring of supports at the circumference. In so doing, it avoids the need to drop columns into the ticket hall of the underground station underneath the main space.”

Photos of the new King's Cross concourse, designed by John McAslan and Partners, London. March 2012

Incorporated into the roof is 1,400 photovoltaic panels, which are expected to generate about ten per cent of the building’s energy needs.

The half-a-billion pound project also included the restoration of the old station building and the creation of a new platform at King’s Cross, daftly named ‘Platform 0.’

Photos of the new King's Cross concourse, designed by John McAslan and Partners, London. March 2012

Photos of the new King's Cross concourse, designed by John McAslan and Partners, London. March 2012

Covering the mezzanine building are no less than 5,447,000 tiles, which have a special coating to repel dirt. They look rather natty to my eyes.

Photos of the new King's Cross concourse, designed by John McAslan and Partners, London. March 2012

Taking the escalator to the mezzanine floor.

Photos of the new King's Cross concourse, designed by John McAslan and Partners, London. March 2012

Looking down at the large circulation area which will handle around 45 million passengers a year – a figure expected to rise by 10 million within the decade.

Photos of the new King's Cross concourse, designed by John McAslan and Partners, London. March 2012

Mezzanine eating area.

Photos of the new King's Cross concourse, designed by John McAslan and Partners, London. March 2012

Photos of the new King's Cross concourse, designed by John McAslan and Partners, London. March 2012

Supported by one 20m high tapered central ‘funnel’ and 16 further smaller columns, the roof covers the same space as three Olympic-sized swimming pools, fact fans!

Photos of the new King's Cross concourse, designed by John McAslan and Partners, London. March 2012

Photos of the new King's Cross concourse, designed by John McAslan and Partners, London. March 2012

Photos of the new King's Cross concourse, designed by John McAslan and Partners, London. March 2012

Photos of the new King's Cross concourse, designed by John McAslan and Partners, London. March 2012

The view from the new concourse, showing the majesty of the adjacent  St Pancras railway station and, err, a big round metal thing..

4 Comments on “The new King’s Cross railway station concourse in photos”

  1. Excellent photos, makes me want to see it for myself, although no one in the pictures seems to be taking note of their new surroundings.

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