A starry sky underground - it becomes reality in Berlin.

When the Museumsinsel underground station opens this Friday, Berlin's center will have one more attraction.

Then commuters, tourists and train fans can get lost in the deep blue of the ceiling and its 6662 points of light before disappearing again in the hustle and bustle of the capital.

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    "It is a special challenge to design an underground station in such a way that you like to linger there until the train comes," says Max Dudler. The architect designed the starry sky under Berlin. The two line tunnels and the platform supported by two rows of columns with a flat ceiling form the platform space. “It's always night in the subway station. And there is something infinite about a starry sky. You don't know where it ends. I wanted to create this feeling of infinity. "

    He was inspired by Karl-Friedrich Schinkel. For Dudler, the station pays homage to the Prussian architect. “In the 19th century, the entire urban space was shaped by Schinkel. It was my idea from the start to immortalize it underground. ”The Old Museum and the nearby playhouse on Gendarmenmarkt are among Schinkel's best-known works. Dudler designed the spatial transition between the tracks and the platform based on the model of a classical arcade. The trains just coming out of the tunnel enter a stone archway after just five meters. The walls of the entire station were clad with light granite from the Fichtel Mountains based on classicist architecture.

    For the vaulted ceiling, Dudler based himself on a stage design that Schinkel designed in 1816 for a performance of Mozart's “Magic Flute”: the star hall in the palace of the Queen of the Night. The color was important to him: “In the mountains the night sky is black-blue - not black, because there is always the light of the stars. That's really fantastic! ”A particularly strong dark blue from the Swiss paint manufacturer kt.COLOR was therefore chosen for the arcades of the subway station: Ultramarine - the French painter Yves Klein is said to have described it as a“ visible symbol of infinity ”.

    The walls behind the tracks are also an eye-catcher in the 180-meter-long train station. Wherever there is advertising, passengers can view photos by Stefan Müller and Philipp Arnold here. The large-format pictures show detailed shots such as columns or fragments of the surrounding buildings. “These panels are cut-outs from above,” says Dudler. "We found it interesting that Schinkel's fragments from Museum Island also appear under the starry sky."

    Dudler, who comes from the mountains, namely Switzerland, studied architecture at the Städelschule in Frankfurt and at the Berlin University of the Arts. In 1992 he founded his architecture office. For the award-winning architect, Museum Island is not the first train station he has designed. In Leipzig he created the underground S-Bahn station Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz. That is why he was invited by the city of Berlin to take part in the competition for the contract for the Museum Island, which he won in 1998. Another 14 years passed before construction began. Since the Museumsinsel underground station is partly located under the Spree Canal, the ground first had to be frozen to protect against water ingress before the actual construction work began in April 2012. The topping-out ceremony finally took place on February 10th of this year.With the opening of the station, the gap between the U5 line between Alexanderplatz and the Brandenburg Gate has almost been closed. The neighboring stations “Rotes Rathaus” and “Unter den Linden” went into operation in December.

    The new train station has four entrances between the Kupfergraben and the German Historical Museum, the Kronprinzenpalais and on the Schlossplatz. “The entrances are particularly important to me,” says Dudler. “They are the entry into the underworld.” Because of the historical surroundings, he designed them cautiously.

    In the pre-Corona year 2019, the five museums on Museum Island attracted almost 2.5 million visitors. So Dudler's station will have to endure a lot. This is one of the reasons why the architect attaches great importance to sustainability, both materially and artistically. “The rooms have to be thought of in the long term. The subway station was not intended to be a technical marvel, but rather a spatial experience. Nowadays there are many architects who think too technologically - with incredibly great materials. But they are neither sustainable nor timeless. As soon as you leave the room, you have already forgotten it. "

    However, Dudler cannot do without technology entirely. In order for its 6662 stars to actually shine, the built-in fiber optics must be illuminated by projectors. These are attached behind the ceiling cladding. The Museumsinsel underground station will be Berlin's 175th metro station, and at 20 meters underground, it will be the deepest in the capital. For Dudler, however, it is more: a cultural station. “Subway stations are public places like a square or a street. The city is being built underground. The visitors should enjoy walking through the public space. "