Right on track: Around the world in fascinating metro stations | Hindustan Times
Naples, Shenzhen, Paris, Stockholm… take a tour of some of the most interesting architectural experiments evolving in the underground.
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Levels crafted in glass and steel are linked by footbridges, balconies and escalators at Paris’s Villejuif-Gustave Roussy. Above it all, a 230-ft-wide cylindrical shaft covered in glass directs light all the way down. Designed by Dominique Perrault Architecture, the subway stop opened last year. (Wikimedia)
In Xiamen, China, the Wuyuanwan subway station got a dramatic facelift in 2024. The new façade by Ateno Architects creates a continuous wave effect in panels of red concrete that draw inspiration from the region’s traditional Minnan red brick or cuo architecture. The space is also home to contemporary sculptures by Chinese artist Su Wu. (Ateno Architects)While the future is being celebrated at new stations today, the past has been immortalised at culture stations across Europe. At Kungsträdgården in Stockholm, for instance, elements of crumbling and due-to-be-demolished heritage homes, including water fountains, statues and intricately carved columns, are preserved. This station opened in 1977. (Wikimedia)At Paris’s Bastille station, sections of wall from the historic Bastille prison are preserved. This station, part of Paris’s first Metro line, opened in 1900 — barely 110 years after the storming of the Bastille and the French Revolution. (The first metro stations in the world, incidentally, were built in 1860s London.) (Wikimedia)At the Arts et Métiers stop in Paris, which opened in 1904, certain platforms have curved walls finished in brushed copper, to resemble the submarine in the French writer Jules Verne’s 1870 sci-fi classic, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. (Wikimedia)Chandeliers, ornate pillars, and massive mosaics highlighting Russian military victories and scenes from World War 2 adorn the baroque Komsomolskaya metro station in Moscow, which opened in 1952. (Wikimedia)Novoslobodskaya metro station in Moscow, which also opened 1952, is considered iconic for its “underground palace” design, featuring internally lit stained-glass panels framed by brass. (Wikimedia)A view of the Monte Sant’Angelo metro station in Naples, designed by British artist and architect Anish Kapoor. Fashioned out of weathered steel, it is inspired by Dante’s Inferno, and by the two active volcanoes in the region, Mount Vesuvius and Campi Flegrei. (anishkapoor.com)A virtual rendering of Vitry-Centre, designed by the French firm Atelier King Kong. The Paris station has sweeping brushed-steel interiors and a massive concourse and walkway above ground. It is part of a 15-year metro expansion project in the city that is scheduled for completion in 2030. (Atelier King Kong)
