Mind the gap

February 19th, 2007

Anyone that’s travelled on the London Underground (aka the Tube) will be familiar with the expression, “mind the gap”. Some might even have the t-shirt. This is such a problem that the London Undeground web site has a section titled “Tourist info”…. not “Tourist information” … “Tourist info” .. no wonder they complain about the standard of education in inner cities. Anyhow this “info” tells us that, “Many platforms are curved. This means that there is often a gap between the train and the platform. Please be careful to look out for any gap when you get on and off the train.” Not only that, but the issue is also embedded in the contract between London Undergound Limited (LUL) and its infrastructure provider who is required to, “provide LUL with train, station and related infrastructure in relation to the SSL Network as it may require during the Contract Period in order for LUL to operate, provide or procure the provision to the public of a modern and reliable metro service over the Underground Network in a safe, efficient and economic manner ……” Appendix 7B, Enhancement Requirements, under Section 3 Audible Requirements sub-bullet 3.4 states that, “The Automated Voice Announcer shall have the minimum functionality of automatically announcing information including: (i) when the Train doors are open at Stations where there is either a vertical or horizontal gap of six (6) inches or more between the Train step and the platform edge, giving the warning “Please mind the gap between the train and the platform”.

The architect, Charles Holden is accredited with architecture that was both functional and accessible. It was said that Holden embodied both the architecture of the modern and that of the past. A master of the traditional classical form with a profound knowledge of construction and materials. His modernity came from his belief that architecture should, ‘…throw off its mantle of deceits; its cornices, pilasters, mouldings…’ He was far more concerned with functional problems; how rainwater could naturally clean a wall; the flow of pedestrians through a building.

It seems that accessible like some other words has taken on a new meaning since the early 1900’s. Much of the tube is far from accessible by today’s meaning of the word. So, how did such an apparent pragmatist give us such a long-standing legacy that is quite dangerous to its users?

Well the answer is that, “these “gaps” occur, between relatively inflexible train and curved platform, whenever a line has to squirm to avoid going under an important set of foundations: as at Bank (station), where it was necessary to avoid the Bank of England.” Today, it just would not be allowed and an alternative solution would have to be found.

If we are allowed to use such analogies, the decisions we make in implementing Enterprise Architecture will involve trade-offs. Very often we have to deal with the reality of legacy applications that cannot just be replaced because they are inconvenient. Instead we have to design around them just as the architects of the tube had to design around existing foundations. For Holden and his boss Frank Pick, the managing director at the time, a few gaps were a relatively small price to pay. Although we make fun of the Tube now, in the 1930s the London Transport network of underground trains, buses and trams was regarded as the world’s most progressive public transport system and a role model of enlightened corporate patronage of contemporary art and design.

No doubt, the decisions were made easier because Pick and Holden made several foreign trips to investigate the modern architecture of Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden. The chief characteristics of their British take on continental European modernism were sweeping curves with geometric detailing, exposed brickwork and concrete which, at the time, seemed daringly modern.

Allen Brown, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Open Group

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