Painting; Westminster Station for Jubilee Line Extension, by Robert Soden, 1998

This painting, one of a series by Robert Soden, depicts stations along the Jubilee Line Extension (J.L.E.). By taking us behind the scenes of the construction process, Soden reveals the awesome engineering behind the austere steel and concrete structure of Westminster station. This view is from inside the enclosed station box, which was excavated 32 metres beneath the operational District and Circle line. The new J.L.E. tracks ran just outside the box, one above the other, so as not to encroach on the foundations of Big Ben and the footing of Westminster Bridge. To the left and right are recessed galleries, and running horizontally through the middle are steel braces, which held out the supporting walls. At the back is one of the 17 escalators that thread through the structural columns in the box. Architects Michael Hopkins & Partners had to contend with major planning issues and practical problems relating to the confined nature of the site, as well as aesthetic considerations relating to the symbolic nature of the setting.