Secret Agent Subway

While recovering from the negative effects of fellow WAIP intern Isaac Choi’s 21^st birthday party last night, I turned to my old main stay of recovering sobriety: the gyro. However, since our program’s meeting with the Chief Economist of the European Union a few weeks ago,  the proliferation of Grecian food in American cuisine only serves to remind me of what a horrible state our own economy is in, making me feel worse than any amount of gin and tonics ever could.   Deprived of my usual hangover cure, I turned to my obsession du jour, James Bond. While looking at photos from the set of the new film Skyfall, I came across a production still of Daniel Craig filming a scene in the London Underground.  Looking at the tiled and vaulted ceiling in “the Tube” I couldn't help but notice how similar it looked to the ceilings of the D.C. Metro System.

Underground, London Underground

DC Metro

  

Upon further research, I learned that this method of constructing subway tunnels was widespread throughout the world with similar designs in New York, St. Petersburg, and Moscow

New York

St. Petersburg

Moscow

Although the Washington Metro is one of the foremost examples of “Brutalist” architecture designed by Harry Weese in the 1970’s, the vaulted-ceiling design found in many subways and metros around the globe is a tribute to the architect Rafael Gustavino. In 1885, Gustavino patented an arch support structure based around the mosaic like “Gusatavino Tile.” This method of construction became so prolific in the first metro systems; it has since been copied or paid homage to in many modern subway stations, including those of the D.C. Metro.

Looking at the broader implications of this commonality, it seems that although they might not be on the red line, many of the world’s premier transportation hubs are connected to each other in a way that Washingtonians often see multiple times a day. However, this charge raises one supreme question: If the D.C. Metro is connected to the London and Moscow undergrounds, why does it still take 2 hours to get to Georgetown?!

-Adam Kase