Prague’s transportation company (DPP) has confirmed it will be partnering with some of the city’s major developers to upgrade some of the more derelict looking metro stations. Prague’s metro network may provide an efficient service for its customers, but to say that the stations are aethestically challenged would be a gross understatement. Even the newest stations look as if they’ve been designed using cheap clip art catalogues, thanks to the lack of competition for the architectural company that handles everything. But the older stations are generally run-down and their looks are at best functional.
This is set to change at up to nine stations, according to the server E15, as the city has concluded agreements or is in the process of negotiations with a number of developers to improve them. In return for permission to build a mix of offices and retail on top of the metro stations, developers will have to bear the cost of upgrading the stations themselves. For the developers, it’s an opportunity to build on highly attractive plots of land, while the city gets a facelift for important public spaces for free. “The vestibules, which were built in the 1970’s and 1980’s, aren’t very attractive in our view,” said mayor Adriana Krnáčová (with admirable restraint). “We want to enliven the stations so that they’re not just transit spaces but locations that people would like to spend time in.”
The city’s cooperation with CPI Property Group at Národní třída is serving as a model of what can be accomplished. CPI built the Quadrio retail and office complex on top of the station while integrating it with the metro station.
