A ventilation shaft for the UK's new HS2 high-speed railway has been designed by British architecture practice Grimshaw to resemble a barn clad in zinc and bronze.
The Chalfont St Peter Ventilation Shaft, or headhouse, will provide ventilation and emergency access to a 10-mile-long train tunnel through the Chilterns ? a set of hills to the northwest of London.

As the Chilterns are a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), Grimshaw has proposed a design that will disguise the piece of infrastructure as a simple agricultural building.
Set back from the main road, the Chalfont St Peter Ventilation Shaft will look like a smart barn, clad in industrial grey zinc with deep bronze accents on the doors and vent openings. The zinc will be pre-weathered and will darken over time, complimenting its plinth of blue-toned bricks. Underneath, a 60-metre shaft will reach down to the HS2 railway tunnel below.

"Chalfont St Peter Ventilation Shaft has been sensitively designed to complement the rural character of the Chilterns," said Grimshaw associate principal Diane Metcalfe.
"The position and orientation of the headhouse buildings are located to conceal them within the landscape and form a courtyard similar to local farmyard arrangements," she added.
"The pitched roof, zinc-clad buildings are a modern interpretation of the local agricultural and industrial vernacular."
To minimise disruption, the material created from excavating the shaft will ...