Interior: Museum Subway Station, Toronto, Ontario

I am getting excited about my trip to Toronto next month and came across this amazing Diamond and Schmitt Architects’ redesign of the Museum Subway Station on the Toronto Transit Commission’s University subway Line. Architecture Now has an amazing article here about this project and I will quote from it below.



"The acclaimed Canadian firm’s new design of Museum Station re-imagines the subway platform as a hypostyle Hall supported by archeologically inspired columns. With a major cultural renaissance taking place above-ground through the renovation and expansion of the Royal Ontario Museum and the George R. Gardiner Museum, the redesigned and revitalized Museum subway station reflects this new energy and spirit underground.

Based on artefacts from the Royal Ontario Museum and the Gardiner Museum, five column designs are repeated throughout the station’s platform representing Canada’s First Nations (“The Wuikinuxv First Nation Bear House Post”), Ancient Egypt (“The Osiris Pilaster”), Mexico’s Toltec Culture (“The Toltec Warrior”), China’s traditional culture (“The Forbidden City Columns”) and Ancient Greece (“The Doric Columns”). Updated ceiling lighting and a new monolithic wall finish create a contemporary backdrop for the column designs. The new station design helps to orient subway riders to city above, providing visual clues about the activities above ground."