HS2 Old Oak Common project
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Old Oak Common Station Design for HS2

The team designing Old Oak Common interchange are pioneering the use of virtual reality to improve both passenger experience and the design process.

Using virtual reality to improve station design

Designed by a team led by WSP and architects WilkinsonEyre, Old Oak Common will be a super-hub of connectivity. The interchange will enable passengers to connect between the Elizabeth Line (Crossrail) into central London and Heathrow Airport, and HS2 and mainline rail services to the Midlands, Scotland and the North. It could also change the way stations are designed forever.

Traditionally, it has been difficult for designers to predict how people will feel and react inside busy, complicated spaces like stations – how they will behave and how the design influences that behaviour. All too often the result of this has been awkward station designs and confusing signage. Now, thanks to HS2’s focus on innovation, the design team has been able to trial a new way of assessing passengers’ experiences of a station design that provides hard data and leaves no space for doubt.

Virtual reality – and more

Working with virtual reality and augmented reality specialist Mima, we used design files and CAD drawings to create a realistic immersive environment that replicates the station design. Dozens of members of the public and designers were then invited to navigate through areas of this digital twin wearing special headsets and surrounded by 5,000 other, virtual, people. 

As people moved through the virtual station and its crowds, technology from Swedish company Tobii allowed the project team to study exactly what they were looking at and what distracted them. In addition, technology from Emteq enabled the team to measure people’s emotions through sensors built into the headsets.

This emotion data supports the post-test interviews with users, because although people might recognise and report obvious emotions – such as panic or irritation – sometimes their stress levels are much higher than they realise. Comparing sensor data to the users’ location and information about what they were looking at is incredibly valuable for designers, who can adjust elements such as wayfinding to help people find their way more easily.

I took part in the trial and it was amazing to review the experience with the virtual reality team afterwards – to see how I’d stopped in different places as I made my way through the station and examine what I was thinking about and how I made decisions about which way to go.
Carolina Morales Project Manager

 

Experiencing designs

Indeed, an immersive environment that represents an exact digital copy of a design enables any designer working on a project to step into the virtual world and experience the project they’re working on. So, the team are keen not just to implement the tool on other stations but also to link the virtual reality tool directly to the digital twin. This would allow updates to the design to be replicated in real time in virtual reality.

With this link in place, input from different experts’ experience of the design could be quickly disseminated to everyone involved in the project. For example, emergency service representatives could experience a fire evacuation in virtual reality, with their experience – from both sensors and interviews – fed back to the project team, who can then update the design for everyone to see in virtual reality. This process could not only improve safety and user experience but also save a huge amount of time re-working elements of the design once the station is operational. Even changing something as seemingly simple as a single sign can be surprisingly disruptive in a busy station environment.

The trial has clearly demonstrated the potential for virtual reality and digital twins to transform station design and passenger experience.

Related Podcast

Episode 8: HS2 and the Golden Thread of Station Design

In this episode of Engineering Matters, we explore how using VR and digital twins to assess passenger experience may change the way we design busy and complex public spaces forever.

Tune in to hear from Kevin White, Technical Director for Information Modelling and Carolina Morales, Delivery Manager for Urban Realm, at WSP in the UK. We also hear from Heather Donald, Innovation Manager at High Speed 2 and David Watts, Managing Director at Mima, on how we can use new and immersive technology to bring designs to life as virtual spaces, and enhance the end-user experience for everyone.

HS2 train station design
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