Toulouse. Saint-Michel metro: all the light of day
The Saint-Michel – Marcel Langer metro station is located in front of the former Saint-Michel prison. This station was initially to bear only the toponymic name Saint-Michel. Following five years of mobilization, in particular by the Saint-Michel neighborhood committee and associations of former resistance fighters, the name of Marcel Langé was added to Saint-Michel.
The work of art created by Michel Verjux invests the entrance hall of the station and uses its inverted conical shape open to the outside. Four projectors are placed in an original way. They diffuse a white light close to daylight by means of equally conical beams. A first projector is fixed to the ceiling and directs its light towards the level of the platforms in one side of the hall, direction Ramonville. The beam of the latter is placed vertically and gives an effect that is found in some shows, by highlighting the person who is placed below. On the opposite side, in the station’s main shaft, three other spotlights placed side by side on the ground illuminate the wall upwards as well as the three skylights placed on the sidewalk. These three beams are visible at night from the street through the same openings that let natural light into the station during daylight hours.