If you've got half an eye for design, good foresight, planning skills or you just like playing with "mixed media", you've got the opportunity to design a Piccadilly Line station of the future.
The example shown above looks like something out of the Jetsons or a Ray Bradbury sci-fi novel, as I really can't see us having floating stations with giant roof gardens and the sort of climate control you get in giant green houses or places like Project Eden. But who knows?
The competition is split into three categories - under 18's, over 18's and Transport for London Staff. Which is quite interesting - why a separate category for TfL staff? With most competitions that are open to the public, staff can't enter, so I can only guess there is some motivational - ten year plan - visionary thing going on, where we get to see how staff would envisage their ideal station.
I imagine the Piccadilly Line station of the future from a TfL viewpoint would be pretty empty, with no tourists, no children, no old people and certainly no one without an Oystercard. The TfL station of the future would have sensors that could recognise drunks, druggies, and graffiti artists from five yards. Once they entered the five yard radius a piercing ear-drum splitting sound would be emitted that only people who had a penchant for drugs, booze and spray paint cans could hear.
I'm generally rubbish at drawing but I have some ideas of items I'd like to see in a Piccadilly Line station of the future, and if someone wants to visualise them I'm happy to share the prize booty (including lots of cinema swag, one year membership to the V & A and goodies from CBBC's Underground Ernie - they spoiling us!). Perhaps we could come up with some sort of bulk entry.
If you're looking for some inspiration check out "Beautiful Subways from around the World", as many other countries already seem to be light years ahead of us in terms of design.
The combined metro and tram station in Oberhausen from the Rhine Ruhr area was built in 1996:
I also love this shell like entrance to Abando station in Bilbao. The entrances were designed by Sir Norman Foster in 1995 and are nicknamed fosteritos
Ideas welcome in the comments and the more futuristic the better.
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