Competition results announced for the design of Moscow metro stations

At a meeting of the jury on November 13 city authorities summed up the results of the international competition for the development of the architectural design of metro stations Solntsevo and Novoperedelkino. The result of the Solntsevo station coincided with the choice of Muscovites who voted on the finalists’ designs on the Active Citizen website.

“For the first time since the 1960s, we have chosen design options for new metro stations based on a competition. And for the first time in the history of the Moscow metro, the appearance of future stations has been formed taking into consideration the opinion of Muscovites themselves,” — stated the chairman of the jury, the Deputy Mayor of Moscow on Urban Development and Construction, Marat Khusnullin. — “The survey was conducted by Active Citizen and drew great attention of Muscovites — approximately 300 thousand people took part in it. As a result, the capital will get two completely unique metro stations, which will become true sights worth seeing in Moscow.”

As noted by Marat Khusnullin, the winner of the Solntsevo station was unanimously selected by both the professional jury and by Muscovites. “But on the Novoperedelkino station, the opinions of citizens and architects were divided. In the end, the declared winner was a project by the Latvian firm United Riga Architects, which had won more votes in the Active Citizens app,” said the Deputy Mayor.

The jury was headed by Marat Khusnullin and included representatives of the Moscow Government, well-known architects, designers, engineers, professional historians, and art historians. The works of the ten participants who by the results of the first stage of the competition reached the finals, were assessed by the jury on five key parameters — design and materials, ease of operation, lighting, comfort of the environment, and cost.

The Russian architectural bureau Nefa architects was declared the winner of the competition for the design of the Solntsevo metro station, with a project which envisages the creation of an effect of a “solar spray” on the platform and on the ground pavilions.

The image of the sun’s rays creates a composition of glowing holes in the walls and ceiling. On the platform, they light up by reflected light from artificial sources of light, and in the pavilions the sun’s rays come in through the holes in the metal sheets. Navigation on the station walls is proposed to be executed as luminous bands in translucent artificial stone.

The Latvian firm United Riga Architect was declared the winner of the competition for the design of the Novoperedelkino metro station. The Latvian firm’s project collected the most votes in a poll of Muscovites by Active Citizen.

The Latvian architects proposed for the design of the metro station to combine native Moscow architectural motifs and modern methods of interior decoration. According to the project, light boxes around the columns on the station’s platforms (huge light fixtures) will be similar to the vaulting of ancient Moscow chambers. The transfer passages are decorated with flat light fixtures: light-penetrating white panels behind perforated steel plates will create a soft and diffused light.

The work of the competition winners is distinguished by an optimal combination of aesthetics and functionalism. “We are specially monitoring the implementation of these architectural concepts,” commented Marat Khusnullin. — “During the construction of the Solntsevo and Novoperedelkino stations the latest materials and technologies will be used. This will not be a museum, but rather a high-tech transport object, which will be convenient and pleasant to use every day. New Moscow in the coming years will receive an exemplary metro line, the most modern and the most high-tech.”