"Diagrid" Roof Design for a Train Depot, London

As part of the extension, a new maintenance depot is proposed for the Jubilee Line at Stratford in East London. The site is approximately 11 hectares and will provide stabling for 33 trains and a maintenance facility for the whole fleet of 59 trains. The shed has 11 rail tracks serving the maintenance, cleaning and the repair functions required. The architectural form chosen for the train shed required an arch of long radius. This form was considered most suitable as it avoided the necessity for internal gutters and produced an aesthetically satisfactory solution, both externally and internally. The requirement for a supporting structure to follow this form suggested a structure using straight elements, with the necessary curvature being provided by small angular deviations at the nodes. This was considered to provide simpler fabrication than the option of curving all chord members.