| Summary : Hatton Cross, an intermediate station on the Piccadilly Line extension between Houslow West and Heathrow Airport, was the first wholly new Underground station built for several years. Opened on 19th July 1975, the subsurface station is an example of an island layout, connected to the surface buildings by stairways. The cut-and-cover excavation at the station had the benefit of making flat ceilings possible, so that greater space was available for the platform tunnel, and the usual 'tube' effect could be avoided. The station - serving the engineering area on the south east perimeter of Heathrow Airport - was provided with a substantial surface building clad in three shades of light brown tile, beneath an overhanging canopy faced in textured concrete which forms a sheltered walkway on three sides. The designers continued to use materials introduced with the Victoria line such as laminated plastic for panelling and stainless steel for trimmings, but they abandoned the neutral grey scheme in favour of a range of colours -purple, green, brown, red and blue, with beige and off-white - reflecting another change of direction for interior design. The platforms had a suspended ceiling of corrugated metal, and the soffit of the central beam was faced in mosaic, carried down the sides of piers and decorated with the former Imperial Airways 'speedbird' motif. A revised form of station name frieze included the silhouette roundel developed by the Design Research Unit. Multicoloured terrazzo in large panels was used as an alternative to the usual concrete flooring. The line from Hounslow West to Hatton Cross came into use on 19th July 1975, and the second portion to Heathrow Central was opened on 16th December 1977. |