Unit 3 Metro Arts & Architecture

1 Introduction

1.1 Read the text title and hypothesize what the text is about. Write down your hypothesis.

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1.2 What do you know concerning this issue? List your ideas in the table left column “I know”.

1.3 If you know answers to these questions write them down in the space given after each question.

1.4 Circle in the list the words and expressions you know. Write down their translation in the table and calculate the percentage of your lexical competence.

Having a metro system has become the new status symbol for cities around the world, and its construction has reached record levels. But it’s not enough anymore just to stick trains underground. Inspired by the beauty and elegance of historic metros in cities such as Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Paris, more recent builders from Washington to Munich to Montreal have reached for eye-popping station designs. Most subway systems tend to be filthy and rather dull from an aesthetic point of view. But subways need not be boring or dreary. Many operators of metros, subways or underground railways want to attract passengers with good station design. This often means extra effort and cost for the metro operators, but it seems to pay off when a metro is more than just a means of transport but something the residents can be proud of.

Nowadays some subway lines turned to be the world's longest art galleries, in which networks you can find stunning baroque-style underground palaces, museums, aquariums, comical statues, grand architecture from art-deco to modernist to futuristic... or just passenger-friendly and beautiful underground stations. Works of art or sophisticated architecture can be delightful, inspiring and thought-provoking for daily commuters as well as an attraction for visitors. Furthermore, there is evidence that vandalism diminishes in appealing stations because works of art and good designs are widely respected.

The Moscow's Metro. The architectural style and the fascinating design of many Moscow Metro stations deserved the name of the " Underground Palace". Nearly all stations are reveted with various natural stones, including semi-precious stones that provide for an individual appeal of most stations and, moreover, make the stone decoration of the underground palaces practically eternal. It's a peculiar stone library exhibiting the richness and the beauty of natural materials, there is no another one like this in any of the world's geological museums. The white, black, deep-red, grey, velvet-pink marble is used for decoration of about half the area of walls of Moscow Metro.

" Ploshchad Revolyutsii" is one of the most famous stations of the Moscow Metro. The station features red and yellow marble arches resting on low pylons faced with black Armenian marble. Each arch is flanked by a pair of bronze sculptures by Matvey Manizer depicting the people of the Soviet Union, including soldiers, farmers, athletes, writers, aviators, industrial workers, and schoolchildren. There are a total of 72 sculptures in the station.

" Mayakovskaya" Metro station is truly considered to be the most elegant station and the main architectural masterpiece of the Moscow's Metro. It belongs to the early period of so called 'Stalinist architecture', though its architectonics and structural system demonstrate the last bright splash of Russian avant-garde. The station was opened in 1938. Marble of two types was used to decorate the walls and columns of the station. Moreover, rodonite matches beautifully with green-black diorite and the silvery steel columns. The vaulting of the central hall of " Mayakovskaya" station has 33 mosaics executed to cartoons by famous Russian artist Alexander Deineka. The light character of structures emphasized by the sparkling bends of stainless steel is shaded by red and pink shades of rhodonite.

Stockholm's Metro (tunnelbana) is referred to as the world's longest art gallery because works of art have been integrated there since the 1950s. The art on show at 90 of the Stockholm Metro's 100 stations is hugely impressive because of its scale and variations and for the way that it interacts with the station environments. Many stations in Stockholm, especially on the Blue Line, have been left as rock caverns, which gives them an outstanding, unique atmosphere.

There are many fine example of this. Solna Centrum, for instance, stands out for its cavernous, bright red ceiling that seems to 'weigh down' on the platform. Meanwhile the walls of the station depict a spruce forest that is one kilometre long. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder as they say, but waiting on a train at this station and others on the Metro is like no other.

Toronto - museum station. While most of the subways stations in Toronto are very traditional, one newly remodeled station stands out. Museum station is located right below the city’s royal Ontario museum. The new station replaces simple columns with recreations of the museum’s collection including Egyptian sarcophaguses, totem poles and Mayan statues. The station also has walls clad with large aluminum panels that are cut-out with the station name to reveal a hieroglyphics pattern behind. The unique station links the subway with the museum above.

Dubai. The Dubai Metro stations combine both heritage and modern designs. They have been modelled on the shape of seashell, inspired from the diving and pearl-fishing heritage of the UAE, while the interior design depicts the four elements of nature – water, air, earth and fire.