Berlin’s Theatrical New Subway Station Is a Star-Studded Affair
The striking look of the city’s Museumsinsel U-Bahn Station echoes the stage designs of Berlin’s most famous pre-modern architect.
The vaulted ceilings at Berlin’s Museumsinsel Station are inspired by early 19th century stage designs by architect Karl-Friedrich Schinkel.
Photographer: Stefan Müller/Courtesy of Max Dudler.
This July, Berlin will cut the ribbon on one of the most striking European metro stations to open in recent years.
The city’s new Museumsinsel (“Museum Island”) U-Bahn Station, set to receive its first passengers July 9, is an austere but dramatic space that not only tidies up one of Berlin’s longer-standing public transit boondoggles, but also explicitly references the city’s architectural heritage. Its interior, designed by Swiss architect Max Dudler, takes as its inspiration theater designs created by the figure who remains the best-known pre-modernist architect to have worked in Berlin — Karl Friedrich Schinkel.