Thread · HN Continuity

It's a totally different perspective and experience when inside the metro. I really dislike brutalist architecture, but in the DC metro station you're not just looking at it, you're inhabiting it. And the architecture isn't blocky, the waffle patterns notwithstanding. The ceiling is curved and completely uniform, without any disruption except for the passenger portals to outside. The elevated crossover platforms are also have curvature.

The metro is fairly dark (or was designed to be fairly dark). It feels cave-like. It's brutalist through-and-through, but for that reason it also makes you feel like you're in an expansive, protected ethereal space. There's no clash with adjacent architecture (except where modern renovations fsck things up). You're transported, literally and figuratively.

Unfortunately the effect has been adulterated over time. Lightning has changed. Arrival signs disrupt the openness. Poor maintenance of the ceiling means grim and water damage breaks up the uniformity. It's not quite the same experience as when I first experienced it in the late 1990s.