Landolt + Brown’s first substantial completed project which opened in early 2010 created a new station building and a 100m long linear public space set on the western side of West End Lane, the area’s busy and traffic-dominated main thoroughfare. The project was instigated by TfL to improve interchange between National Rail and TfL rail services and then transferred to Network Rail who acted as the primary delivery body.

The design responds directly to a mature avenue of plane trees that were previously located behind a palisade fence and surrounded by thick scrub undergrowth, but which were to become the predominant feature of a major new public open space, formed by creating a retaining wall along the railway boundary to create a new, level walking route to the station. This space now hosts a wide range of community events, including a regular farmers’ market and has been adopted by the local community as West Hampstead’s unofficial town square.

The retaining wall forms the key element in the composition of the public space. Its face is lined with faceted, glazed brick which graduates in colour, based on the foliage of the trees above, from dark green at one end, to lime green at the other, with the pale brickwork extending into the station building itself. The station building is a simple, crisply-detailed glazed box with an over-sailing roof, with two cellular ‘pods’ providing staff and customer facilities.

The project won Brick Innovation and Civic Trust awards in 2012 and 2013 respectively.