Prix Versailles honors train stations

The Prix Versailles revealed its 2026 List of the World's Most Beautiful Train Stations on September 28. This list celebrates stations that combine heritage, creativity, and innovation, highlighting their role as emblematic places of modern design and sustainability.

Design excellence as a driver of progress

Jérôme Gouadain, general secretary of the Prix Versailles, emphasized that the winning stations demonstrate how excellent design can drive progress. He noted that these stations successfully balance mobility needs with neighborhood revitalization and sustainability, creating spaces that are both contemporary and culturally significant.

Melbourne's Town Hall Station

Town Hall Station in Melbourne, Australia, is located under Swanston Street in the city's historic center. Designed by Hassell, RSHP, and WW+P, it features an underground hall marked by eight imposing columns and wide platforms crowned with high copper-toned vaults, creating a cathedral-like atmosphere.

Art and architecture in Melbourne's stations

The station shares a unique "trinocular" structural design with the State Library Station, where three tunnels overlap to form large volumes. Artworks such as Forever by Danie Mellor and Barerarerungar by Maree Clarke enhance the stations' civic and memorial dimensions, adding narrative depth to the spaces.

Lyon Part-Dieu Station's transformation

Lyon Part-Dieu Station in France, though not originally designed as a major hub, has evolved into a large multimodal exchange point. After an expansion involving multiple agencies, it now features a vast bike station and reimagined public spaces, turning a dense facility into a welcoming urban space.

Rome's Colosseo – Fori Imperiali Station

Colosseo – Fori Imperiali Station in Rome is a unique metro station that transforms archaeological discoveries into an immersive experience. Located 30 meters underground, it reveals ancient Roman remains as passengers descend, with an oculus offering a view of the Colosseum, blending history with contemporary design.

Naples' Monte Sant'Angelo Station

Monte Sant'Angelo Station in Naples, designed by Anish Kapoor and other firms, offers a dramatic descent into an underground space. With two monumental openings and spaces reaching 48 meters deep, the station evokes myths of the Sibyl of Cumae and the volcano Vesuvius, turning the journey into an artistic and historical experience.

Riyadh's National Museum Station

National Museum Station in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is designed as an entrance to the National Museum and historical center. Its architecture features a mineral envelope inspired by the Tuwaiq Mountains, with triangular openings revealing a sparkling blue interior that creates the illusion of a sky within a mountain of stone.

Riyadh's West Station

West Station in Riyadh is built on the site of an open-air market and integrates shops, a mosque, and pedestrian spaces. Inspired by desert dunes, its undulating roof design creates shaded areas and a wadi-like passage, offering a unique blend of transportation and urban living in a car-dominated city.

LAX/Metro Exchange Hub in Los Angeles

The LAX/Metro Exchange Hub in Los Angeles reimagines airport access with a focus on sustainability and equity. Designed to connect multiple transit options, it uses natural ventilation and solar panels to reduce energy use, offering a light, open alternative to the city's car-centric infrastructure.