Českomoravská metro station reopens with bubble glass panels by Maxim Velčovský
Prague’s Českomoravská metro station on line B, in the city’s Vysočany district, has reopened after more than a year of reconstruction. The station now features glass panels filled with tiny air bubbles, created by Czech designer Maxim Velčovský.
The station closed in January last year for a major overhaul costing nearly one billion crowns. Workers repaired the load-bearing structures, renewed the platform and station facilities and replaced the escalators.
But the most visible change is artistic. The ceramic tiles that used to line the platform have been replaced with panels made of fused glass containing small air bubbles, designed by Czech designer Maxim Velčovský.
“We were invited to take part in a design competition, which we won together with my colleague Vítězslav Danda from Studio Edit. Our idea was to enclose air between two sheets of glass. Line B of the Prague metro already uses glass at several stations, so we wanted to build on that tradition when redesigning Českomoravská.”
Each panel was produced by hand at the glassworks in Nový Bor. Velčovský says creating the bubbles inside the glass was the most challenging part of the process.
“Imagine a sheet of glass sprinkled with frit, something like crystal sugar, and then another sheet of glass placed on top. The two pieces are fused together so that air remains trapped between them. The key was controlling that air so it didn’t form patches, but instead created bubbles evenly spread and permanently sealed, or fossilised, inside the glass.”
Velčovský says the project was very different from the work he usually does and required close cooperation with engineers, safety experts and other specialists.
“It was my first project of this kind in a public transport space, with strict safety requirements and huge numbers of people passing through. Everything had to be checked by many teams, and even the planning meetings brought together dozens of specialists to make sure the design met all the technical requirements. It was an intensive but very enriching experience.”
The reconstruction was originally expected to finish by the end of last year. But shortly after work began, engineers discovered that the station’s load-bearing structures were in worse condition than expected. In the end the project took fourteen months and cost around 930 million crowns.
The station is not yet fully accessible. Plans to install an elevator have been delayed by negotiations with nearby landowners. Workers have however installed stronger escalators designed to handle the large crowds heading to the O2 Arena.
The renovated stop will soon face its first big test. The World Figure Skating Championships begin in Prague on Tuesday at the arena, bringing thousands of spectators to the area.
Českomoravská opened in November 1990. It served as the terminus of line B until the metro was extended to Černý Most in 1998.
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