The United Kingdom-based architecture firm Grimshaw's designs for stations along the planned Los Angeles-Las Vegas high-speed passenger rail line lean heavily on the desert landscape for inspiration.

The Brightline West project received a $3 billion grant this month as part of the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Construction on the $12 billion project is expected to begin next year with an estimated opening date of 2028. Trains are to travel up to 200 mph, whisking passengers between suburban Los Angeles and Las Vegas in about 2 hours and 10 minutes, with stops at four stations.

Grimshaw said its station designs blend in with the natural surroundings, as the train’s 218-mile route will pass directly through the Mojave Desert. Most of the Las Vegas station, for example, will be “partially submerged beneath the desert landscape,” the firm said in its design description.

The station "will sit approximately at the current elevation of the arroyo that will function as a sunken linear park,” Grimshaw said.

The Victor Valley station in Apple Valley, California, “embraces the vast open spaces of the Mojave Desert manifesting as a sculpted piece of land art,” Grimshaw said.

The designs for all four stations include extensive native plants covering the grounds at each station and on the station roofs. The greenery is set to include cactus and other plants that thrive in the low-moisture landscape.

“We are introducing a legitimate alternative to car and air travel with a high-speed rail system that drastically reduces carbon emissions,” Andrew Byrne, managing partner of Grimshaw’s Los Angeles office, said in a statement.

Grimshaw, based in London, has extensive design experience with rail and transit stations. The firm’s notable works in the sector include Fulton Center in New York, which has links to seven lines on the New York City Subway. Grimshaw was also hired as architect for a planned expansion of Union Station in Washington, D.C. The Brightline West stations were designed by architects in Grimshaw's Los Angeles office.

Stations on the privately operated Brightline West route are to be located in Rancho Cucamonga, Hesperia and Apple Valley, California; and Enterprise, Nevada. Passengers can transfer at the Rancho Cucamonga station to a commuter rail line for travel to downtown Los Angeles.

The planned Las Vegas station is located on a 114-acre site between Interstate 15 and Las Vegas Boulevard near Harry Reid International Airport. An affiliate of Brightline acquired the property in 2021 for $140 million, according to CoStar data.

Brightline recently launched passenger rail service between Miami and Orlando, Florida. The Los Angeles-Las Vegas line would be Brightline’s second passenger rail service in the United States.

Arup is the lead engineering firm on station design and construction.

Updated Jan. 4 to note the Brightline West stations were designed by architects in Grimshaw's Los Angeles office.