Subway Art and Architecture

December 1, 2005 - The announcement made yesterday by the Toronto Community Foundation and the TTC on revitalizing our subway stations through art got me thinking about what other cities have done to make their underground transit systems not as just means of transport, but something that can foster the cultural and aesthetic aspects of the city.

Most subway systems are unfortunately quite dull from an aesthetic point of view. The stations along the Bloor-Danforth Line in Toronto, for example, look more or less the same, except for the colours of the tiles. On the other hand though, there are cities that work hard to foster arts and good architectural designs in their underground transit systems. Some of these subway systems act as the city's art galleries, museums, and even aquariums. These user-friendly, aesthetically pleasing stations have been said to help improve ridership and to reduce vandalism and crime. To no one's surprise, most of these artistic subway systems are found in Europe. Check out some of the ones that I've found:

1) Stockholm, Sweden

Known as the World's longest art gallery, art has been integrated in every single one of Stockholm's subway stations since it opened in 1950. Most stations have been left as rock caverns, which gives them an authentic, ruggish look. Together with special lighting, these stations are not just transit stops, but a master piece of art.

This is T-Centralen Station, one of the busiest stations in Stockholm. Doesn't this beat the tiles at Yonge-Bloor?



2) Paris, France

Perhaps the first city to incorporate art into its subway system, Paris' Metro is best known for its distinctive art-deco entrances (this one is at Abbesses Station). Paris' metro stations are column-free vaults that look similar throughout the system. The older stations (particularly those close to tourist attractions) are better looking than others and have a more historical appeal to them. Two interesting things that I discovered when I rode the Metro system last summer on my visit to Paris: the trains run on rubber wheels, not tracks; you have to open the train doors manually! One of the cons: someone needs to do something about the smell at some of these stations...


3) Moscow, Russia

No, you're not looking at a grand hall inside a castle! This is the platform at Komsomolskaya Station in Moscow. Opened in the 1930s, the Moscow's subway stations were designed to be grand outstanding spaces, resembling cathedrals and castles. Many of the stations have marble-clad walls and chandelier lighting. A little creepy for my taste really, but these stations were designed under the Socialist Regime of the former USSR and were intended to be "palaces for the people". Other former USSR cities, such as Kiev in Ukraine, also have similar designs for their subway stations.


4) Bilbao, Spain

Internationally known for being the home to Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao has also invested billions of dollars to improve the visual landscape of the city through public art and good architecture. Check out the glass entrance to Abando Station. The system was designed by an architect named Sir Norman Foster, who said "A tunnel dug by man through earth and rock is a very special place. Its shape is a reaction to the forces of nature and the texture of its construction bears the seal of man. This must be respected, not covered up to make the place look like any other building. One must be able to feel being underground, and make it a good, special experience."


5) Rhine-Ruhr, Germany

The Rhine-Ruhr region in Germany consists of close to 30 different tram and subway (called Bahn in Germany) lines. Many of the newer stations have interesting designs, mixing different types of materials (such as wood with concrete) with lighting. My favourite is Neue Mitte Station (shown left), which was probably influenced by deconstructivist architecture. Wouldn't it be cool if they decide to redesign Yorkdale Station or Scarborough Town Centre Station in a similar fashion?

Many other subway systems in other parts of Europe have also begun to incorporate art into their station design. The new subway system in Athens for example, has Greek sculptures and statues scattered throughout. For an upcoming post though, I'll see if I can find examples of subway art and architecture in North American subway systems...

Subway Stations Re-designed

November 30, 2005 - Today, the Toronto Community Foundation and the TTC unveiled its proposal to redesign three subway stations on the Yonge-University-Spadina route. The main goal of this redesign is to boost cultural tourism, improve transit ridership in Toronto, and revitalize public space. The three stations, Museum, St. Patrick, and Osgoode, will be redesigned to act as gateways to the cultural institutions found nearby. For example, Museum Station (see picture), will be transformed into a museum, with the support columns turned into mummies, totem poles, and classical Greek columns. Osgoode Station might possibly be renamed Osgoode-Opera to reflect the new Four Season Centre for Performing Arts opening right above the station. Music will be piped into the station from the Centre and moving pictures will be projected on the side walls. St. Patrick Station will be turned into a semi-art gallery, with scenes depicted on the walls to mirror themes from the AGO.

Personally, I have mixed feelings towards this revitalization. I think the idea of revitalizing these stations is a good one, since many of our stations are in desperate need of repair and updating. While the TTC tries to install public art into many of the stations (the Spadina line stations come to mind), the majority of them still look bland and are pretty ugly. Revitalizing some of our older stations is also one of the many ways to revitalize the entire transit system.

However, I feel that there should have been an open-competition to redesign these stations, rather than just accepting the proposal from one architect firm. While the design for museum Station looks pretty cool, the other ones are not THAT attractive (I don't see how the new St. Patrick Station has anything to do with the AGO). Also, are ads still going to be on displayed at these stations? If these stations are to be public art, they should be ad-free. Why redesign these stations if they are to be infiltrated with ads for pain medication or tv shows?

The new Museum Station will be opened next year, coinciding with the opening of the ROM Crystals. I guess time will tell whether the redesigned stations will be great pieces of public art or just tacky attempts to dress up our crumbling transit system.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Wrap-Up

November 19, 2005 - After months of anticipation, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the 4th (and my favourite) book in the series, finally opened last night. Despite showing up almost an hour earlier, we still had a hard time finding good seats - and had to sit pretty close to the screen.

That didn't stop me from enjoying the movie though! This time, Harry finds himself at the Triwizard Tournament, competing for the coveted title against three other contestants (one of them is Cedric Diggory - see picture - and of course everyone knows who I support :P ). Besides facing the challenges of the tournament, Harry must also face the trial and tribulations of being a teenager: namely meeting girls and learning how to dance!

The movie was a visual stunner - the Quidditch World Cup scene that set the story up was simply amazing. The Yule ball scene was beyond what I had imagined while reading the book. Having said that though, I also thought some of the scenes went a little beyond than required, namely the first challenge scene with the dragon - was it really necessary to follow the dragon for 10 minutes?

Since the book was over 700 pages, a lot of it was cut out to make the movie into 2.5 hours. Everything with Harry's "muggle" family was cut out, as were the house elves. I was a little disappointed over the absence of the house elves, since they were quite important to the story. Besides cutting out sections of the book, the movie also had to reduce the role of some of the characters. As a result, some of the main characters, like Sirius Black, Professor McGonagall, and even Hagrid, had only cameo appearances. Even Cho Chang, Harry's crush, had only 2 lines in the entire movie!

Overall though, the movie was still very enjoyable. There was no way that the adaptation would be perfect and I felt that the director did his best to please both fans of the books and those who have never read the books. The rise of Voldemort was done really well and I can't wait to see Ralph Fiennes in the upcoming movies. Cedric Diggory, played by Robert Pattinson, definitely added to the visual appearance of the movie :) too bad he died in the movie though...perhaps Cedric has a twin brother, or a look-alike cousin?

Speaking of the cast, the Harry Potter movies feature some of the most well known British film actors. Among those who have been in a HP movie include Maggie Smith (Prof. McGonagall), Ralph Fiennes (Lord Voldemort), Emma Thompson (Prof. Trelawney), Julie Christie (Madam Rosmarta), Julie Walters (Molly Weasley), John Cleese (Nearly Headless Nick), Miranda Richardson (Rita Skeeter), Gary Oldman (Sirius Black), Kenneth Branagh (Prof. Lockhart), Jason Issac (Lucius Malfoy), Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid)...

The movie for book 5 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - comes out in 2007! I can't wait to see who they cast as Professor Umbridge, my favourite character in the entire series (well, after Cedric Diggory I guess). My choice is still Dame Judi Dench - but is she too old for the part?

I support Cedric Diggory !

November 18, 2005 - Today is the day that Harry Potter fans have been waiting for - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire officially opens !!!

In a few hours, I will be at the theatre eagerly anticipating the start of the movie. We have tickets for the 9:15 show but I'll be there by 8:30 at the latest to line up to get in. The theatre will for sure be packed.

After surfing Goblet of Fire sites all afternoon, I came across these really cool posters for each of the Triwizard Tournament champions. Of course, being a huge supporter of Cedric Diggory - I had to download the official "I support Cedric Diggory" poster. I wonder if they sell these in the stores...

I have to say that they did an amazing job in marketing the movie. The movie posters for HP4 are some of the best that I've seen - and they have about 40 different ones. Some of them are unique to only specific countries (like these ones from Thailand that I found...). Many of them feature not only just Harry, Ron and Hermione, but also secondary characters like Cerdic (YES!!!), Fleur Delacour (she's kinda hot too eh), Vkitor Krum, and even Cho Chang.

Ok gotta go - I'm excited !!