Prague has chosen the design of the three metro stations D. Which one do you like the most?
Olbrachtova and Pankrác have been winning their artistic designs since last summer due to the submission of project documentation. It should be completed at the next three stations by December 2020 at the latest. According to the municipality, the common elements from the furniture will still be subject to a separate design competition.
The capital’s representatives want the “déčko” to be visually unified, similar to line A, the largest station being built in the late 1970s. This should make it clear to passengers in the future which metro lines they are currently on. Actor and popular architect David Vávra took care of the unified identity of the new stations.
Metro D gets its face, art competitions have the first winners
“The competition for the artistic design of the newly designed metro stations D confirmed the consideration that contemporary art can enter public space. If the plan succeeds, Prague will once again move one society free, where the existence of art in the city is not decided by party apparatus, but by the visionary idea of the individual, ”said the chairman of the evaluation committee, Vávra. The jury also included people from Metroprojekt as a processing construction and transport company (DPP).
The management of the metropolis wants to follow a similar procedure for other sections of the “blue” line. According to the plans, construction should begin between Pankrác and Olbrachtová. The price exceeds 10 billion and lasts seven and a half years. Subsequently, the route will be extended to Písnice and in the final phase it should connect Pankrác and Náměstí Míru. However, due to Eurovia’s objections and covid-19, the start of work has become more complicated. So far, only geological research has been launched.
Mushroom: Prague does not compromise on aesthetics either
“We still have a lot of work to do before the artistic designs are transformed into a final form in cooperation with artists and architects,” also admitted Petr Witowski, CEO of DDP. In any case, the ongoing public competitions are appreciated by the mayor of Prague Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates): “Prague does not compromise on the ambition of the modern ambition to realize visions and present a form of metro station that will withstand global competition.”
The Pankrác station will be closed for a year due to metro D, the lines will be connected by a tunnel
They can judge the result themselves according to the enclosed visualizations. At the Krč Hospital, the visual artist Jiří Černický kept the main themes of the station and divided the artistic concept into two areas – medicine and natural sciences. For example, on the wall along the railway, Černický drew an interactive “multi-graph” in the form of an ornament expressing human life functions. The stained glass wheels should then look like a microscope.
Painter and glassmaker Vladimír Kopecký had to deal with the Nádraží Krč station, stating that its platform would not be underground. According to the artist, “problems with the transformation of space at different times of the day and the perception of a work of art when looking at an object from the outside as well as from the inside to the surroundings can occur.”
The Novodvorská sculptor of the Vyšehrad station
The sculptor and award-winning artist Stanislav Kolíbal is the author of the Pankrác bridgehead at the Nuselský Bridge near the Vyšehrad station on line C. In the future, Kolíbal could see a sovereign realization within the planned Nové Dvory station, which can also be seen as a kind of “historical satisfaction”.
“The design of the Novodvorská station consists of two nine-meter-long reliefs above the entrance to the escalator. For difference, the main motif is one circle and the other a square. The actual walls of the tunnel form a system of sharply colored parallels, which contrast with their irregularity and dynamics with the system of cladding boards. However, in order to connect with them as much as possible, they are very often based on their districts and intersections, ”the 90-year-old holder of the state decoration described the use of geometry.
City management: In 2022, two metro stations D will be built