Seed Beneath the City
Pritika Arora
Seed Beneath the City reimagines Aldwych Station as a dormant piece of urban infrastructure, hidden below London and reactivated in moments of crisis. Inspired by the anatomy of a seed, the project transforms the abandoned underground station into a dual programme: an urban agri-tech laboratory and an emergency civilian shelter. Seed structures such as the suspensor, endosperm, embryonic axis and seed coat inform the spatial language, shaping cold vaults, growing chambers, gathering spaces and protective sleeping environments.
The proposal explores how underground architecture can preserve life rather than simply provide escape. Rhubarb rooms, mushroom cultivation spaces, seed storage pods and hydroponic systems create a closed-loop network for food production, research and survival. At street level, a large glass pavement intervention allows daylight to enter the station while giving the public a glimpse into the hidden world below. This connection between the city above and the refuge below turns the abandoned station into a visible, active and socially engaged space.
Through biomorphic forms, warm materiality, controlled atmospheric conditions and references to seed dormancy, the project positions Aldwych as a living refuge: a place of protection, cultivation and renewal beneath the city.
Pritika is an Interior Architecture student at the University of Westminster whose work explores atmosphere, materiality and narrative-led spatial design. Her practice is driven by curiosity around how interiors can hold memory, emotion and sensory experience. She is particularly interested in adaptive reuse, speculative environments, biomorphic forms and the relationship between people, nature and architecture. Working through drawing, model-making, digital rendering and storytelling, Pritika develops immersive proposals that combine conceptual research with spatial detail, aiming to create interiors that feel experiential, imaginative and emotionally engaging.
Sectional view of Aldwych Station transformed into an underground refuge and agri-tech lab.
Cold Vault Area
Urban Agri-Tech Laboratory
Mushroom Growing Area
Refuge Sleeping Pods
Programme Strategy
