Completed in 1978, Yorkdale subway station provides a vision of what some believed the future to be like---in 1950. The usage of a glass dome, lots of chrome panels, and unflattering curvature makes the station look like some type of interstellar docking hub complete with a parking garage for your flying car, a vending machine that dispenses meals in pill form, anti-communist propaganda advertisements, and the underlying suggestion that blacks should stand in a different area of the hub from everyone else. I suppose that when architect Arthur Erickson completed the station he had an intense feeling of satisfaction and said to his associates, "We've done it. This is the future." Sorry Art, but you were a little late. The future called, it said don't fucking bother with the whole space hub design.
Just two stops north of the space hub that never was is Downsview station. Completed in 1996, Downsview was the first new subway station to open in over 20 years and marked a vast difference in design as a result. The station features quite a bit more open space, higher ceilings, and more aesthetically appealing design overall compared to most subway stations. Though I still consider this station to be one of the nicest the TTC has, I find it mildly humorous that a station that was thought to be state of the art a little more than ten years ago now is commonplace amongst most contemporary architecture in Toronto. In fact, I dare to go so far as to say that the station actually has a near-institutional feel to it, as many of the new wings of hospitals, government buildings, and libraries follow the same design principles as Downsview station. That's right girl, I went there.
Next week find my critique of art on the Sheppard line. Haha, I kid. I think I could do so in a few lines:
- Remember those magic eye pictures? Now you don't have to with the tile art at Sheppard station. What's that? Oh, a farm!
- The warped clocks at Bayview are reminiscent of Salvdor Dali. You know, if Dali sucked and thus was a low cost alternative to a real artist that was commissioned by a misinformed board of directors who decided to build a subway line that exists only to provide a transit link to IKEA (that still requires you to take a shuttle bus from Leslie station)
- The numerous portraits of feet and backs of heads in Bessarion station remind us that we are all in this together...this crazy world....we are the world, we are the children....give peace a chance....do they know it's Christmas?
- Many of the tiles at Leslie station are adorned with the text "Sheppard & Leslie" in varying handwriting. I commend the TTC for allowing a third grade art class to provide artistic direction in the station.
