The Elizabeth line is the gift that keeps on giving. She’s got air con, wi-fi, charging ports, and she’s a cute purple colour. Now, Lizzie has been shortlisted for a very prestigious architecture prize. And they say women can’t have it all.
The Elizabeth line has been announced as one of six nominees for the 2024 RIBA Stirling Prize for architecture. The train line, designed by Grimshaw, Maynard, Equation and Atkins, has already been named RIBA’s London Building of the Year, but it could now also win the bigger Stirling accolade.
Judges for the prize called the purple line a ‘mammoth feat of construction and collaboration’ and a ‘transport tour de force’. London’s new Crossrail, which runs from Berkshire to Essex via central London, is made up of 62 miles of track, which includes 26 miles of new tunnels, 10 new and 31 upgraded stations. It carries up to two million passengers a year.
The Elizabeth line will compete with other London icons for the top prize. Other nominees include King’s Cross Masterplan, the newly refurbed National Portrait Gallery and Chowdhury Walk, a housing development in Hackney.
The winner will be announced in October at a ceremony at the Roundhouse.
The full shortlist for the 2024 RIBA Stirling prize
- Chowdhury Walk, London (Al-Jawad Pike)
- The Elizabeth line, London (Grimshaw, Maynard, Equation and Atkins)
- King’s Cross Masterplan, London (Allies and Morrison and Porphyrios Associates)
- National Portrait Gallery, London (Jamie Fobert Architects and Purcell)
- Park Hill Phase 2, Sheffield (Mikhail Riches)
- Wraxall Yard, Dorset (Clementine Blakemore Architects)
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