Line 14 of the Shanghai Metro opened on 30th December. With it, the metropolitan transport system adds its fifth line of driverless trains and reaches 831 km of tracks, in what is the most extensive metro network in the world. One of the busiest stations on this line, in the tourist heart of the city, next to the Chenghuangmiao (City of God Temple) and the Bund, and the deepest station on the Shanghai Metro, is Yuyuan Garden Station. Shanghai Metro commissioned New York and Shanghai-based design and architecture firm Xing Design to design the interior of Yuyuan Garden Station.
It is an exceptional and inspiring design, turning the station into a living space where commuters not only wait for and take trains, but enjoy an immersive, almost artistic experience. But let’s see how they do it.
Thousands of suspended aluminium sheets wave at fixed distances from each other, covering the ceiling and adapting to the changing shapes of the space between the large columns, over which they descend, concealing their tops. The undulations of the roof simulate, according to its designers, the ripples of water in the Huangpu River, which flows above the metro line, and are also vaguely reminiscent of the undulations in the eaves of the City of God Temple. This curved ceiling, designed with parametric technology, is combined with a LED lighting system, with a variable intensity and colour, to complete the experience.
The LED lighting can be programmed in a myriad of patterns to change at different times of the year and in accordance with the different dates of the year. Chinese red for National Day and the Spring Festival, floral colours for Valentine’s Day, and so on. Different sequences also serve to produce a sense of movement, in a series of rhythmic pulsations that give the space an ever-changing character. White light, at the appropriate moments, replaces the sun in a place that is several tens of metres below the surface.
Since its opening, the Yuyuan Garden Station has been very popular and has received a great reception from the public, as well as being widely reviewed by several official and unofficial media. We, from here, join the public applause and appreciation for the magnificent design.
Don’t miss the show and enjoy it in this VIDEO:
