Art & Architecture

Built and decorated almost entirely in concrete, Langelier station is an impressive example of 1970s brutalist architecture. Unlike most stations with a mined trainroom extending out from a main volume, here the trainroom essentially forms one huge vault. The cylindrical main volume does not end abruptly in a spandrel wall above the vault of the portions built in tunnel; instead, its curved roof gradually contracts over a series of graduated arches to reach the smaller vault.

The station’s ticket hall is located on a mezzanine in the main volume, which intersects with a transverse corridor leading to the accesses to the north and south. At the intersection between the access corridor and the mezzanine, the location of the gateline is highlighted by two arching rows of fluorescent lights that emphasize the curvature of the large vault, presenting a very dramatic, almost sci-fi aspect.

After the gateline, the mezzanine continues as a long, broad expanse providing access to the staircases to the platforms. At the head of the stairs, the overhead light fixtures are arranged in a distinctive curling formation to emphasize the way to the platforms.

The mezzanine looks down onto the platforms over a low, broad parapet sloped down at an acute angle. Under the mezzanine and between the staircases, each platform presents a distinctive, monolithic wall section that repeats the same acute angle both in its shapes and in the reliefs on its surface. The staircases’ stainless-steel handrails also wrap around these walls at the platform level, providing an additional sleek accent to these exciting forms.

Most of the station’s walls are lined with a continuous row of prefabricated, bracket-shaped units in pale concrete with integrated seating. These units—nearly 1,200 of them—run throughout the station, unifying all levels.

At platform level, ventilation shafts on each platform are screened by attractive metal sculptural ensembles by Charles Daudelin, each consisting of seven rectangular modules with circular cut-outs revealing brightly coloured panels in a spectrum of yellow, orange, red, and magenta. The multicoloured accents and violet backgrounds of these sculptures offer a rare touch of colour in the station, along with the red-orange highlights at the bottom of certain walls. This artwork is a second collaboration in the metro between Daudelin and architect Victor Prus, after Mont-Royal.

As for the accesses, the transverse corridor leads on one end to the north headhouse, and on the other, to a stairwell up to another corridor that links the two headhouses south of Rue Sherbrooke.

The three headhouses occupy three of the four corners of an intersection. They share a similar geometrical concrete design, with shallowly overhanging roofs accented with pairs of concrete panels protruding outward, with circular cutouts that originally enclosed light fixtures.

The two larger headhouses are located diagonally across the intersection from one another. These are very similar, with windows all along the main façades, interrupted by concrete columns slanting outwards. In these headhouses, the staircase, located in the centre of the building, is highlighted by the rows of concrete brackets continuing up from the hallway below and protruding above the level of the parapet.

The third, smaller headhouse, only as wide as the staircase itself, adjoins the neighbouring shopping centre. It has fewer windows, with most of its façade taken up by a slanting wall in grooved concrete.

Combining elegance and excitement, this station’s architecture is well worth witnessing in person.