Vaughan Metropolitan Centre expected to be centre of development

Art will blend with architecture in the six new subway stations now taking shape along the TTC's Spadina Extension subway line, set to open in the fall of 2016.

In this series, CBC looks at each of the six stations in more detail.

Vaughan Metropolitan Centre Station

Architects: Grimshaw Architects, London with Adamson Associates, Toronto

Artist: Paul Raff Studio, Toronto

Vaughan Metropolitan Centre Station serves a city centre that has yet to materialize. The station itself is expected to kick start development of a future residential and work hub that should reach a population density never before seen in York Region.

Paul Raff Studio embedded their Atmospheric Lense artwork into the stations entry pavilion dome to create the effect of a large, overhead low-relief sculpture.

It treats the ceiling with a surface of highly reflective panels and perforates it with an irregular array of skylights, the sides of which are lined with coloured reflective surfaces.

Raff played with how the light penetrates the skylights as sun angles evolve from the height of summer to the depth of winter. He wanted to enhance the experience of the space by subtly changing the quality of the light.

Riders may not be able to point to where the architecture ends and the art begins in this station, Raff said, and it doesnt matter. What matters in that an artists thinking was brought to bear on a public space in a way that enriches it.

Beautiful spaces such as Union Station have a big impact on the quality of life and identity of place, Raff said, citing New Yorkers continuing anguish over the demolition of their beloved Penn Station 50 years ago.

Beautiful spaces are good for citizens, tourists and the bottom-line, long-term value of an urban environment, Raff said.

Read about the rest of the Spadina Extension subway line:

• Downsview Park Station
• Finch West Station
• York University Station
• Pioneer Village Station
• 407 Station
• Vaughan Metropolitan Centre Station

Michelle Adelman is a fellow in global journalism at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto.