Saint-Denis Station, designed by KKAA, is defined by its angular volumes wrapped with vertical wooden louvres, containing nine-floor levels. From the street, users go down through a series of stairs and ramps, that follow a spiral formation, that connects four underground that expands the Pleyel district urban public spaces in northern Paris, with the rest of The City of Light.
The use of wood extends to the inside creating a 30-meter-deep atrium covered with a glass roof to let the bottom levels get natural light. In the lower part, the planks are placed tightly together to form an opaque cladding to conceal technical services. The station includes complementary programs: with cultural and commercial spaces. (It will later boast a sculptural installation from the French artist Prune Nourry.)
A key final aspect of the project is its fireproof fir slat acoustic roof panels and the ingrained connection to the forthcoming Pleyel bridge designed by Marc Mimram, which is expected by the end of next of 2026.
Saint-Denis Pleyel metro station by KKAA. Photography by Michel Denancé / KKAA.
Saint-Denis Pleyel metro station by KKAA. Photography by Michel Denancé / KKAA.
Project description by Kengo Kuma and Associates
The Grand Paris Express project began in 2007 in an attempt to relieve overcrowding and environmental degradation in the center of Paris with a new ring-shaped subway network. We designed the station building that will serve as the northern hub of the project.
The entire station was made into a park by creating greenspace on the rooftop and connecting it to the ground by a ramp, redefining the building not as a closed box but as a public space for the community. This multi-level park became a bridge over the railroad line, attempting to resolve the division of the community by the main railroad line from the north of France.
The “green station” is softly wrapped in a curtain wall made of oak, and the 30-meter-deep atrium that accesses the four metro lines is also entirely covered in wood, creating a soft and warm space that contrasts with the conventional stations made of concrete and steel. The rooftop garden reconnects the divided neighborhoods, and the wooden atrium reconnects the earth to the sky. In the atrium, 108 statues of Venus evoking the mother of the Earth by artist Prune Nourry are placed.
