The Arts et Métiers Metro Station

Welcome to the Arts et Métiers metro station here in Paris. As you can see, this is not your ordinary station. The dingy white tile and pasted signage that covers almost all other stations in the city are absent.

In their place is real copper plating riveted into place to form the belly of some great fictional machine. Pure candy for a Steampunk fan, this Jules Verne-esque stop can’t help but cause your mind to race. While shooting photos for this post, my own thoughts turned to our current world. If the world spent even half as much time, energy, and money on innovation and restoration for its crumbling infrastructure as it does on games and gadgets, think of the possibilities. While I’ll hold out judgement on Elon Musk’s Hyperloop, I appreciate the spirit of the project and feel it is pointing us in the right direction. Namely, onward and upward rather than maintaining the status quo, which usually involves potholes and cracked bridges. Anyway, sorry for the rant, back to the station.

The Arts et Métiers metro station was designed by Belgian comic artist François Schuiten. Schuiten is best known for inking the early 80’s graphic novel, “Les Cités Obscures” or as it was published in English, “Cities of the Fantastic”. His work in comic art, theater set design, and an artistic renovation of the Porte de Hal station in Brussels, Belgium led to his being chosen to helm this project.

One of the more unique aspects of this station’s design involve it’s simulated portholes. Running down each side of the track along the #11 line are brass ringed windows filled not with the expected views of underwater scenes or high altitude cloudscapes but of space, special tools and scale models of someone’s future plans for some imagined world. Artifacts of the world where this station belongs. It’s a shame that subway grime and time have damaged the glass so badly.

I love this metro stop and highly recommend a visit for anyone who wants a kick in the imagination. That being said, it is by no means a destination in itself.  So, if you find yourself with some extra time in the city and are already riding the rails, take the #3 or #11 and make your way here. Tell them Captain Nemo sent you. Um, on second thought don’t. They will just stare at you awkwardly.