Beautiful Transit Hubs
By Lisa July 30th, 2018
Nancy and I attended a seminar last week on color trends and what is inspiring them. One of the slides was of the transit hub at the World Trade Center in NYC. It was so stunning that I thought I’d take a look at some others around the world. They make me want to head underground!
This is the cathedral-like transit hall interior from the viewing platform on the street level. The building is named The Oculus and is the World Trade Center Transportation Hub in New York City. I had to look up Oculus to understand why this name; it is a circular or oval window or a circular opening at the top of a dome. It comes from the Latin word eye and as interesting as this is, I still don’t quite get the name!
The exterior of the Oculus has been compared to a dove with clipped wings. You can decide if its landing or taking off! The photos are by Daniel Jones.
The Arts Et Metiers Station in Paris
Baker Street subway station in London where, of course, it is called a tube station. And I can hear Gerry Rafferty…
The Centralen Station in Stockholm.
The Radhuset Station in Stockholm. The Stockholm metro stations are works of art that raise social questions in their design. From this cave-like feel to nods to technology and more, its pretty incredible. Read more at https://nordic.businessinsider.com/12-stockholm-subway-stations-that-double-as-breathtaking-works-of-art-2017-4/
Formosa Blvd Station in Taiwan
Moscow has many incredibly beautiful stations that are described as “underground palaces” for good reason. The Elektrozavodskaya station in Moscow (the top photo) opened in 1944 and the Kiyevskaya station (the small photo in the middle) opened in 1954. For the twenty years following this opening, new station designs were toned down (Nikita Khruschchev favored more spartan decor) and looked more and more alike. Original and more extravagant designs came back in the mid-1970’s. The third photo here is of the Slavyansky Bulvar station that opened in 2008.
The Szent Gellery Square station in Budapest. The photo is by Gabor Bartal.
This is the University of Naples station in Italy. This must wake up students! And believe it or not, the materials are Corian!