Munich’s largest underground movement is made up of 95 kilometers of subway routes and almost 100 stations, served by 552 trains per day transporting millions of people safely to their destinations. The subway’s significance for the city is unmatched by any other form of mass transit. Munich’s “U-Bahn” (underground railway) has been welding the warm-hearted metropolis together since the Sixties. The underground network contains spaces in which extremely diverse characters must meet and find their way around. However, many of the stations are showing their age. Dozens are now undergoing modernization while the daily timetable continues to operate. A mammoth task in terms of logistics, technology, and design.
The mega-refurb is in the hands of allmannwappner, the Munich- and Berlin-based international architects’ office, which had already created an overarching design guideline for the Munich subway. Their vision involves a design system that is both cohesive and flexible, that showcases the character of the individual lines and readies this sustainable form of transportation for the future. Munich residents love their subway lines. In 2024, the network carried around 615 million passengers, around 45 million more than the previous year. According to Katharina Thomas, partner at allmannwappner, the extensive maze of routes is more than mere functional transportation infrastructure: It is a series of public spaces. With this in mind, she is committed to providing high quality architecture aimed at ensuring that this mass transit method becomes “a cornerstone of sustainable mobility.”
Fit for the future
The subway is Munich’s central nervous system, serving the city’s 1.488 million residents alongside its myriad visitors. Its stations have a distinctive and individual appeal; the U6 line, with its iconic pillars finished with colored tiles and its vibrantly hued stations, is both the oldest and the longest, at 27 kilometers, a vivid string of 26 stations stretching from Garching to Grosshadern.
At the refurbished Giselastrasse station, the decor has been stripped back to reveal the original concrete structure and a modern lighting system accentuates the supporting pillars. The spaces seem to have grown larger. In actual fact, of course, they have; modern lighting systems no longer need suspended ceilings, enabling the old ceiling panels to be removed to give new height. Renovation works in other locations are also bringing secrets to light, from asbestos wall panels to elaborate concrete formwork. The burning question in all these cases is: Are the structures still sound? A matter for experts to investigate. While functionality was the focus in the Sixties, today’s transport facilities must be aligned to current safety standards and handle many more passengers than when they were first built. And because accessibility has long become a standard requirement, refurbishment plans also cover the entrance areas and mezzanine levels. As a further consideration, the fully renovated stations need to be clean and safe, but also easy to maintain.
Clarity for complexity
allmannwappner has developed a clear-cut concept to tackle this complexity. In design terms, it involves the use of translucent materials, broader lines of sight, and intelligently positioned lighting to provide passengers with a feeling of safety and orientation. In logistical terms, it means that the ageing stations need to be optimized and aligned to modern standards and a slew of new regulations, but with as little active intervention as possible—while operations continue. Work on flooring, lighting systems, and wall panels follows an overarching design principle that can be adjusted in an instant to fit individual locations. But that doesn’t result in drab conformity, points out Dorian Zapp, head of the subway architecture team at Stadtwerke München. In fact, the goal is to “create a clear structure” with the scope to enable bespoke solutions “to be developed for each station individually.”
Ultra-spacious
Munich’s subways are reflections of the city itself: down to earth, but with a flair for atmosphere and cohesion. This is public space, particularly below ground level. Every subway station where people feel comfortable is a contribution towards improving our coexistence. Urban mobility is not a matter of infrastructure, but of quality of life. A well-designed subway station is a place of encounter, where commuters, tourists, and nightclubbers cross paths. The station must thus fulfill an array of needs simultaneously: ensure people can find their way around, deliver reliability, radiate attraction. The revitalization of Munich’s subway stations thus throws open a vast opportunity to create more space for design, identity, and a sustainable future. In years to come, a descent into Munich’s subterranean subway will capture the experience of a city that continuously builds its future—even under the ground.
