St Pancras Railway Station Samerah Rahimzada

St Pancras Train Station in London was designed by civil engineer William Barlow in 1863. Construction on St Pancras commenced in 1866 and was completed in 1868.

William Barlow was born in London in 1812. His father, Professor Peter Barlow, was both an engineer and mathematician and taught at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich. It was with his father that William learnt his trade while working in the Dockyards. To further his knowledge and experience in engineering William Barlow travelled to Turkey where he spent six years. He returned to England and became assistant engineer on the Manchester and Birmingham Railway. In 1842 he joined the Midland Railway and in 1857 he opened his own engineering practice. While working for Midland Railway Barlow designed and built the main railways lines running between London and the East Midlands. Part of this was the main terminal at Kings Cross St Pancras. The design is known as the train shed and was designed with Rowland Mason Ordish and William Henry Le Feuvre. It consists of a wrought iron arch and steal canopy.

The roof is glass and vaulted and gives extraordinary sense of space and light, as Marvin Trachtenberg and Isabelle Hyman explains;

"Its 243-foot span was not an exceptional dimension for bridges, as we know, but for an interior it was extraordinary, especially extended in depth to form the widest and largest undivided space ever enclosed. The skeletal transparency of the ferrovitreous vault added a futuristic, magic dimension to the stunning space, especially as the vault was made to spring from the platform level where the passenger stood."

(Architecture: from Prehistory to Post-Modernism. p472-3)

The vaulted roof was intended to make maximum use of the space and the fact that it is glass allows natural light to come inside.

The arch spans 243 feet and is 100 feet high. Once completed the train shed became the largest enclosed space in the world. Inside, the arch theme is continued throughout with small arches in sequences and curved lines throughout the station emphasising free movement as you can see in the next photo

The curved lines offer smooth transition and a close connection from floor to ceiling;

Attached to St Pancras is Kings Cross, the front facade of which, was designed by George Gilbert Scott in 1864 and was completed in 1868. He was given the opportunity to do so by winning the completion against 10 other architects. Each architect submitted their plans and ideas and Scott’s design was chosen. His design was a Gothic style building.

Scott was born in 1811 and studied architecture under the guidance of James Edmeston and then worked as an assistant to Henry Roberts. He was responsible for works such the Akroydon model. However, he was drawn to the Gothic style and his first design inspired by this style was the Martyrs’ Memorial. This led him to design the Midland Hotel at the Front of Kings Cross in a Neo Gothic style as you can see in the following photo;

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:StPancrasMidlandHotel.jpg)

Recent renovations in Kings Cross and St Pancras have maintained the original designs but have emphasised more on openness space and ease of movement within with the introduction of minimal steps. “The open, bright design, general cleanliness and high-end retail outlets of St Pancras International create a positive sense of arrival for passengers and have resulted in the station acting as a destination in its own right. Movement paths within the interchange facility are largely direct and clear with good sight lines and little clutter. Spatial management is good with mixed use spaces arranged to either side of movement spaces, decision points are relatively clear with minimal advertising or other distractions. Much of the station environment is step free with lifts, where needed, located on desire lines. A visible staff presence, combined with pedestrian and retail activity promotes a sense of safety and security.” (http://www.tfl.gov.uk/microsites/interchange/88.aspx).

There is a maximum use of natural light and the layout is in line with the original aim of concentrating on the orientation of passengers i.e. their constant and non arbitrary movement as you can see in the following photo I took;