Waterloo Station, International Terminal

Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners, 1993

The International Terminal is an ad-
dition to Waterloo Station, a London
train station built in 1922.

The Terminal’s main structure is a

1200-foot-long steel and glass tube
that tapers from a width of 150 ft., to 150’
accomodate boarding platforms, to
105 ft., the width of 5 trains.
105’

The Terminal tube comprises 36 as-

symetrical arches. While they de-
crease in size as the structure tapers,
the arches are identical in design.
 The design is a complex variation
on a bowstring arch. A typical
bowstring arch functions like its
namesake, a bow: A thick mem-
ber is held in curved compression
by a tension cable.
bowstring arch bow

cladding
The Waterloo design consists of
(metal decking) two bowstring units. The smaller
one is flipped, so that the cable-
like member runs along the top
cladding cable member of the structure. The cladding
(glass)
also flips, lining the inside of the
smaller bowstring unit.
The two portions of the Water-
loo arch are fastened to each
other and the platform below
with pin connections. The pins
create zero moment where the
bowstring sections meet each
other and the floors below, be-
cause they allow the arch seg-
ments to rotate freely at their
connection points.

pin joint in detail

JAY BERMAN 1998 JAY BERMAN 1998
Each structural unit is actually two triangulated
3-pin arch assemblies and the cladding between
them. Each pair of arches is structurally indepen-
dent, insuring that if any structural unit is dam-
aged the others will still stand.

The smaller half of the arch is clad on its under-

side with overlapping panels of glass. Because
each 3-pin assembly is slightly smaller than the
one before, the glass gradually tapers, like the
scales on a fish.

pin joint
The cladding on the other side of the arch sits above
the structure. Glass skins each bowstring. In between,
metal decking tilts inward, providing easy water drain-
age, and creating an undulating appearance.
 C

T A cable-strung bowstring arch operates like a

typical beam: The upper member is in com-
pression, while the cable is in tension.

dead load The Waterloo arch, however, does not em-

C C ploy cables, which can only exert force in
tension. Instead, the Waterloo bowstrings
T T utilize metal rods. Because the rods can
withstand compressive force, the compres-
sion and tension forces can switch.

This switch occurs due to uplift. Normally,

dead loads press down on the arch, causing
the upper members to be in compression and
the lower ones in tension. But when wind
T loads push up against the structure, the low-
T er member goes into compression and the
C upper member is in tension.
uplift C
 metal decking

glass above
longer bowstring

glass below smaller

inverted bowstring

triangulated
bowstring structure

except where noted, all images taken from Structure, space and skin : the work of Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners. Moore, Rowan, ed. Phaidon, 1995.