Baixa-Chiado Subway Station

With a public connection between Rua do Crucifixo and Largo do Chiado, this subway station strengthened the relationship between the two levels of the hill of Chiado, being the deepest in the network, located roughly 45 metres below the surface. By establishing a connection between its blue and green lines, Lisbon’s subway reinforced its role as a structuring means of transport in the city’s urban life. The station’s architecture is based on essential elements, focusing on a single theme responsible for the spatial conception: the monumental vaulted openings, covered in white tiles. Access to the central lobby is made by means of deep stairways, where the lighting emphasizes the role of the tiled vaults, as light spots are strategically placed, creating a scenic atmosphere for the users passing by. The artistic intervention is authored by ngelo de Sousa, who circumscribes his intervention to the two street accesses, thus complying to architect Álvaro Siza’s principles of simplicity and economy of means. The intervention is carried out in a language close to that of Islamic Art, in which loose signs and inscriptions appear linearly through sumptuous golden elements contrasting with the tiles white surface. The Baixa-Chiado subway station is a model urban circulation node, indistinguishable of the context of Lisbon dwellers’ multiple daily trips.