Metro station in Taipei painted with Jimmy’s world

The Taipei Metro Station now has 6 lines and 102 stops. Almost each stop’s design, decoration, public art settings have distinctive features, which is closely connected with the nearby natural scenes and cultural society. It is filled with culture atmosphere. So, passengers can see the beautiful scenery while walking up and down. Among these, the Nangang Station is the most famous one, called as “the most beautiful metro station in Taipei”. The famous picture book writer Jimmy’s work “Sound of Colors” has been integrated into the whole station. Once people walk into the Nangang Station, it feels like walking into the virtual world created by Jimmy. Therefore, the Nangang Station is called “Jimmy’s Metro Station” by his fans.

People who is familiar with Jimmy’s work, knows that the “Sound of Colors” tells about a blind girl, who come to the city to adventure by herself on her 15^th birthday. She gingerly takes the subway from a small strange station and goes to another strange station. In Nangang Station, the 6 giant frescoes have reproduced the scene in the story “Sound of Colors” with lively and vivid color.

Entering and existing Nangang Station, you’d better take the exist 2 to enjoy the richest visual enjoyment. Jimmy has made special design for this entrance, putting the most representative figures and animals in his past works on both sides of the wall along the ladder. So, passengers can walk up and down the stairs with the familiar faces of elephant, rabbit, penguin and others, entering the romantic world of fairy tell. Down the stairs, around the corner, the pedestrians will see a wall full of all kinds of empty chairs in unordinary styles. They are the little cute boat-shaped chairs from Jimmy’s book. Very different from other metro stations, on both sides of the platforms at Nangang Station, there is no advertisement or poster. It is the classic scene in Jimmy’s book “Sound of Colors”. There is blind little girl with crutch taking adventure in the subway. There is long subway. There is witch riding on a broom racing with the subway. There is a mysterious paradise. When the train really take off, the stories on the wall will fly into the eye of the pedestrians. At this moment, people will feel like walk into the magical world.

Ever since 1993, Taipei metro station starts to purposely integrate public art. Nangang Station is the first metro design that combined classic work created by Taiwanese artist. In fact, Nangang Station has combines the past, present, and future, the three levels of imagery into the design. It is the most unique styled metro station among all the stations in Taipei. Like the green floating ceiling you have seen when you look up, it presents the Nangang’s past image as a town of tea. The pastel colors and the modern design has beautified the rigid ceiling and also reflected the fresh old time of the town. The future shows on the fiber glass used on the escalator and space separator, creating a new image of Nangang Science Park.

The 102 Taipei Metro Stations all have their own characteristics. As Guting Station, the ceilings of the basement have 12 sets of public art – encounter. Each art work has two side, representing the opposite design. For example, day and night, noisy and quite, joys and sorrows. Songshan Station has made an undulating shape with 50,000 LED lights and stainless steel, meaning Songshan is located in at the place where river curves around. Becaue Xinbeitou station connects the Beitou Hot Spring are, it made the whole metro systems into a hot spring scene. The hall presents the “source of the hot spring” with color painted titles and 3D installation arts.