Public Art in Station Design
Ottawa is embarking on what is arguably the largest and most important public project in its history. The new Light Rail Transit system will be comprised of thirteen new or retrofitted light rail stations along a 12.5 kilometre route from Tunney’s Pasture to Blair Station.
Globally, the construction of new light rail transit systems has brought about a series of large infrastructure projects resulting in the renewal of the urban landscape and its public spaces including the commissioning of public artworks. By combining the visibility and accessibility of the city’s mass transit system with the creativity of Ottawa’s artistic resources, the program brings works of art designed with input from nearby communities to permanent public display.
The trend toward incorporating art and design into existing and future public transit operations became increasingly popular during the 1990s, and continues to grow. However, many public transportation agencies are finding that a process that began with a simple interest in improving aesthetics of public transportation have also produced unexpected additional benefits, such as improved passenger travel experience, better community relations, and reduced vandalism.
Successful light rail transit (LRT) systems around the world integrate public art in their designs as a celebration of cultural expression. Try an internet image search sometime for stations in cities such as Los Angeles, Stockholm, Montreal and Tokyo. Artwork is integrated both at stations and along the line, with each individual artwork reflecting its surroundings, yet functioning as a recognizable part of a family of works.
For the Light Rail Project, public art is being considered at station design inception and thus will play a defining role in the look and feel of these important public spaces.
In addition to stand-alone artwork, public art could be integrated into the architectural elements of station design and be placed in strategic locations along the runningway, or “tracks” of the LRT system. Some stations may have an identifiable theme espoused through public art and architectural design components.
The station design phase of the project is currently underway. Both station design and public art will include a public review process at key junctures. Open house meetings and other opportunities for public design review and comments will be announced on the project web site, ottawalightrail.ca, once the dates have been set.
Moscow System
Opened in 1935, it is well known for the ornate design of many of its stations, which contain numerous examples of socialist realist art.
In total, the Moscow Metro has 298.8 km (185.7 mi) of route length, 12 lines, and 180 stations; on a normal weekday it carries over 7 million passengers.
The system operates according to an enhanced spoke-hub distribution paradigm, with most rail lines running between central Moscow and its suburbs. The Koltsevaya line forms a circular ring that connects the spokes and facilitates passenger movements between outer portions of lines without having to travel all the way into the central city.
On all lines, travellers can determine the direction of the train by the gender of the announcer: on the ring line, a male voice indicates clockwise travel, and a female voice counter-clockwise. On the radial lines, travellers heading toward the centre of Moscow will hear male-voiced announcements, and travellers heading away will hear female-voiced announcements.
Information and photos courtesy of Moscow Metro http://engl.mosmetro.ru/
Stockholm System
The decision to build a metro was made in 1941. The following years, some routes were built with near metro standard but operated with trams. The first part of the metro was opened in 1950, when an underground tram line from 1933 was converted to metro standard. This line ran south from Slussen to Hökarängen. Over the following years, two more lines extending from Slussen (via Gullmarsplan, then Johanneshov) were opened. In 1952, a second system from Hötorget to the western suburbs was opened. In 1957, the two parts were connected via the Central station and the Old Town, forming the Green Line. The Red Line was opened in 1964, with two lines going from northeast to southwest via the city center. The third and final system, the Blue Line, was opened in 1975, with two lines running northwest from the city center. The latest addition to the whole network, Skarpnäck station, was opened in 1994.
The Stockholm Metro is well known for its decoration of the stations; it has been called “the longest art gallery in the world.”[2] This not fully true since some other metros, most notably Moscow, have more stations with art. However, the boasts of Stockholm are hard to ignore. The early integration of public art has led to truly unique and world renowned transit system. Several of the stations (especially on the Blue Line) are left with the bedrock exposed, crude and unfinished, or as part of the decorations. At Rissne, an informative wall fresco about the history of Earth's civilizations runs along both sides of the platform.
Photos courtesy of http://www.sl.se/Upload/eng_text/uploads/Art-MetroENG_webb.pdf
Information courtesy of Stockholm Public Transport (SL) http://www.sl.se/Templates/SubStart.aspx?id=1906
Montreal Metro
The Metro, operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), was inaugurated on October 14, 1966, during the tenure of Mayor Jean Drapeau. Originally consisting of 26 stations on three separate lines, the Metro now incorporates 68 stations on four lines measuring 71 km (44.12 mi) in length, serving the north, east, and centre of the Island of Montreal with connections to Longueuil, via the Yellow Line, and Laval, via the Orange line.
The metro system is currently Canada's longest subway system and the busiest in total daily passenger usage, serving an average of 989,000 daily passengers on an average weekday in 2009.[2] In 2008, 291.6 million riders (transfers not included) used the Metro.[3]
The Montreal Metro was inspired by the Paris Metro[5] and in turn is also the inspiration for the Lyon Metro and Marseille Metro, as well as the Mexico City Metro, all constructed a few years later, and all which also share the same rubber-wheel car design and similar Montreal Metro station architecture.
In the early years of the Montreal Metro's life, a unique mode of advertising was used. In some downtown tunnels, cartoons depicting an advertiser's product were inscribed on the walls of the tunnel at the level of the cars' windows. A retail film processing outfit called Direct Film advertised on the north wall in the Atwater-to-Guy (now Guy-Concordia) tunnel (Green Line) during 1967-1969. Strobe lights, aimed at the frames of the cartoon and triggered by the passing train, sequentially illuminated the images so that they appeared to the viewer (passenger) on the train as a movie. [2] Today known as "tunnel movies" or "tunnel advertising", they have been installed in many cities' subways around the world in recent years,[19] such as Southgate tube station in London, the MBTA Red Line in Boston, MARTA in Atlanta, the DC Metro, San Francisco's Montgomery Bay Area Rapid Transit station, and on the North South MRT Line on the Mass Rapid Transit of Singapore.[20]
Information and Photos courtesy of the Société de transport en commun de Montréal (STM) http://www.stm.info/English/a-somm.htm
TTC
One stop north, James Sutherland's coloured glass mosaic, "Spadina Summer Under All Seasons" - possibly the most remarked-upon work in the subway - decorates the walls of Dupont Station. Two enormous mosaics depicting a flower in cross-section face one another across the platform, and several more flowers line the walls of the mezzanine level, recalling old botanical illustrations and a hint of Georgia O'Keeffe. Outside the station, Ron Baird designed the monumental entrance doors to the TTC's Dupont St. electrical substation, with their interlocking circular design.
Lawrence West's northern entrance is home to "Spacing ... Aerial Highways", a mural by Claude Breeze, and on Wilson Station's mezzanine level is "Canyons" by Ted Bieler, a craggy and decidedly geological-looking aluminum relief. Bieler teaches at York University (as does Breeze), and has a number of sculptures on display around the city, notably at the corner of Front and University, and at U of T's Medical Sciences Building.
Information courtesy of the Toronto Transit Commission.
