Bizarre underground mushroom garden in London’s

Mail Rail, an underground railway was abandoned in 2003, but now an architect firm has come up with an idea to transform the space

Winner of High Line competition which aims to find imaginative new green space in the capital

London’s Oxford Street showcases the fast pace of the capital, but hidden 70-feet below the tarmac is a deserted network of damp and derelict tunnels.

Mail Rail, an underground railway, was abandoned in 2003, but now an architect firm has come up with an idea to transform the space into a subterranean mushroom garden.

Pop Down is designed to be an urban experience where visitors can embark on an expedition, entering and exiting the tunnels from street level.

Life underground: Pop Down is designed to be an urban experience where visitors can embark on an expedition underground, entering and exiting the tunnels from street level

Hidden network: Until 2003, Mail Rail, an underground railway carried 7 million letters and parcels across London each year

The innovative idea claimed Fletcher Priest Architects first place in the High Line competition which aims to find imaginative new green space in the capital.

The experience would be lit at street-level with sculptural glass-fibre mushrooms.

Fletcher Priest Architects said: ‘The tunnels provide the ideal environment for an urban mushroom farm with the introduction of daylight through a series of sculptural glass-fibre ‘mushrooms’ at street level.’

‘These will highlight the route of the tunnel above ground and will convey daylight to the tunnels below through punctures along their length.

‘The produce will serve new pop-up concept ‘Funghi’ restaurants and cafés at each entrance.’

MAIL RAIL: 23 MILES OF TUNNELS

Until 2003, Mail Rail, carried 7 million letters and parcels across London each year.

The underground unmanned train service started in 1927.

Travelled 23 miles of 2ft gauge track linking Whitechapel in the East End with Paddington in west London.

Initially the Mail Rail line ran 22 hours a day, its staff working in three shifts.

This service was later reduced to 19 hours a day, 286 days a year.

Its closure came when Royal Mail announced the line had become uneconomical with losses of £1.2M a day and that they planned to close it should no alternate uses be found.

Maze of tunnels: The underground unmanned train service started in 1927 and travelled 23 miles of 2ft gauge track linking Whitechapel in the East End with Paddington in west London

Closed down: Until 2003, Mail Rail carried 7 million letters and parcels across London each year

Until 2003, Mail Rail carried 7 million letters and parcels across London each year.

The underground unmanned train service started in 1927 and travelled 23 miles of 2-ft gauge track linking Whitechapel in the East End with Paddington in west London.

It looks not dissimilar to the London Underground and the stations are a miniature version of the Tube at platform level.

The Lido Line: An idea to insert a clean, safe ‘basin’ in the Regent’s Canal in which to swim the ‘Lido Line’ from Little Venice to Limehouse

Initially the Mail Rail line ran 22 hours a day, its staff working in three shifts.

This service was later reduced to 19 hours a day, 286 days a year.

Its closure came when Royal Mail announced the line had become uneconomical with losses of £1.2 million a day and that they planned to close it should no alternate uses be found.

Runner-up in the competition was claimed by The ‘Lidoline’ which would create a special commuter lane in Regent’s Canal, which spans London.

High, Low, Fast and Fluid Lines: A commuter cycleway on raised railway viaducts, ¿air rail¿ gardens by railway sidings, a new green Blackfriars Bridge and flower shows on the Thames

Green Arteries: A scheme to transform London’s flyovers into productive and beautiful green arteries, to reduce heat effect and traffic noise and encourage biodiversity

‘We thought that another new open space was a little redundant – the problem is those spaces are underused,’ said David Lomax of Y/N Studios, which developed the idea.

‘We would create a network to link those areas together.

‘The obvious thing was the Regents Canal – it runs through London, but is sporadically used, and is rarely used in its entirety.

The judging panel, included Joshua David and Robert Hammond, co-founders of New York’s High Line, Dr Penelope Curtis, Director of Tate Britain, Mark Brearley, Head of Design for London, and leading landscape architects Kim Wilkie and Jo Gibbons.

Structure: Biocentric ‘mats’ and ‘sleeves’ are layered onto buses, trams and trains to create mobile gardens

via.dailymail.co.uk/