National Palace of Culture metro station
Put into operation on August 31-st 2012.
Location
National Palace of Culture metro station is a station of the second metro line of Sofia Metro, commissioned on 31 August 2012. This station is located between Patriarh Evtimiy blvd., Vitosha blvd. and National Palace of Culture. Entrance to the metro station is in the underpass of the National Palace of Culture, under Vitosha blvd and at the end of Bulgaria Square. It’ll become a junction when the third metro line is realized and there will be a direct connection between the two lines. The station has an island platform, it is underground with a flat roof. Platform’s length is 114 m.
Part of the construction of the station and the tunnel between it and the European Union station were built during the construction of the National Palace of Culture and we had to visually compensate the lower ceilings, insufficient space of the passages, too massive columns, etc. using architectural techniques. We have had to adapt the built area to today's environmental accessibility requirements and to provide elevators, ramps and escalators wherever possible.
Architecture
The proximity to the Palace's park and the existence of numerous recreation areas and social and cultural activities have inspired us to lay the idea of the connection with nature in the architecture of the station. We have achieved this through the use of rounded, flowing natural shapes that soften the interior space, plenty of light and fresh, contrasting colours.
The design of the underground space associates the breath of nature with bright spring colours - dark pink, light green, white and beige. Sense of water is created through the use of glossy mirror surfaces reflecting plenty of light.
The flooring is made of polished granite and the walls are lined with gray-green granite tiles at the bottom and colored hardened glass in the upper part. The ceiling is a dropped one of the Hunter Douglas type, and through its continuation is curling an elegant overall lighting. On one side of the platform there is an artistic ceramic panel with an outline of the National Palace of Culture.
This idea also covers the underpasses that are connected to the park square and continues to the concourses and the platform level.
Architectural design: arch. Krasen Andreev.
