QUAY SIGNATURE.

Eva Jiricna Architects' bus interchange at Canada Water in London docklands was built as part of the Jubilee Line masterplan and is connected to the new underground station and an existing station on the East London line. As well as providing a civilized and logically planned shelter with modern amenities for staff and passengers, the scheme had to accommodate the flow of people and vehicles, and protect nearby housing from noise and pollution.

Jiricna's elegantly engineered structure runs back northwards from the curve of Surrey Quays Road; on the east, it is cut away to accommodate a circular drum which is the entrance to the underground. A new pedestrian crossing on the north-east connects the bus station with nearby housing, and buses entering on the east side of the site, run round the periphery and exit on the west. The place should feel an integrated, working part of the neighbourhood. Much of the boundary wall is transparent giving views of landscaped grounds.

The interchange consists in the main of a superstructure, a canopy which sails over the site, over peripheral bus stops and a central waiting area, and over a stone-clad accommodation block with operations rooms and lavatories, a controller's office and refreshment kiosk. Acting as a huge acoustic buffer, it is made up of two massive wings. These are aerofoil in section, constructed from a series of transverse steel trusses, and cantilevered from a central truss supported on a row of five columns. The wings are stabilized by struts and ties attached to boundary structures on the north and west, while lateral loads on the columns are resisted by a series of diagonal rods and bracing, so that the canopy becomes a single stiff plate.

This polished, aerodynamic structure is exotic in the bleak neighbourhood of scattered tower blocks and new estates. If the wings are massive, they are made to seem lighter by being edged with glass so that the canopy appears to hover above the ground; at the same time, the transparent tips admit daylight to bus stops underneath. At night, the underside serves as a large reflector for uplighters and the wing tips and crystalline spine glow with blue radiance.

A transitional, separate canopy inserted underneath the edges of the main canopy and tube entrance reconciles the two buildings. This elegant edgy little piece of the interchange jigsaw has a glass roof supported by a pyramidal steel structure and profiled concrete columns.

Beneath the sheltering roof, use of a few materials is intended to promote a calm, consistent ambiance. Reconstituted stone, which clads the accommodation block, and paving blocks are all in London stock colours; rigidized metal has been used for doors and columns. Waiting areas are simple glass enclosures and, as is usual with this practice, are cleanly detailed and furnished.