On track – the winner of the 2024 RIBA Stirling Prize
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced the Elizabeth Line – London’s new transport network – as the winner of the 2024 RIBA Stirling Prize.
Named in honour of Queen Elizabeth II, the Elizabeth Line runs from Reading and Heathrow to Essex and South East London.
Accommodating 700,000 passengers every weekday and spanning 62 miles of track and 26 miles of tunnels, it is an extraordinarily complex architectural feat masked by an elegant simplicity.
Designed by Grimshaw, Maynard, Equation and AtkinsRéalis, the Elizabeth Line has been heralded as a monumental achievement and remarkable collaboration between architects, engineers and designers.
The network navigates through centuries of untouched history buried deep beneath London, while carefully avoiding both new and ancient underground footings and sewage systems.
The excavation project became part of Britain’s largest-ever archaeological dig, uncovering a wealth of historical artefacts – from a Tudor bowling ball to 55-million-year-old woolly mammoth remains.
Six million tonnes of earth were excavated to create room for the network’s tunnels, which was repurposed to create a nature reserve in Essex.
In contrast to much of the old network, the Elizabeth Line provides a quietly calm environment.
Its scheme-defining muted palette of perforated cladding, sensitive lighting and coherent wayfinding systems create an intuitive, frictionless experience.
Curvaceous, fluid lines converge and diverge, carefully guiding passengers to flow around corners, down cavernous vaulted tunnels and onto wide, open platforms.
Environmental considerations help to future-proof the network and range from passive cooling at platform level to reduce the need for mechanical heating, to escalator motion sensors that minimise energy waste.
Space has also been created for further air conditioning and temperature control, enabling the network to evolve with the challenges of climate change.
Speaking on behalf of the RIBA Stirling Prize jury, Muyiwa Oki, RIBA president and jury chair, said: “The Elizabeth Line is a triumph in architect-led collaboration, offering a flawless, efficient, beautifully choreographed solution to inner-city transport.
“It’s an uncluttered canvas that incorporates a slick suite of architectural components to create a consistent, line-wide identity, through which thousands of daily passengers navigate with ease.
“Descending into the colossal network of tunnels feels like entering a portal to the future, where the typical commuter chaos is transformed into an effortless experience.
“This is architecture of the digital age – a vast scheme that utilises cutting-edge technology to create distinctive spatial characteristics and experiences .
“It rewrites the rules of accessible public transport, and sets a bold new standard for civic infrastructure, opening up the network and by extension, London, to everyone.”