Although the D.C. Metro's new Silver Line stations in Northern Virginia are designed for functional rather than high aesthetic ideals, Philip Kennicott's review for the Washington Post focuses on the benefit of the line to the region.
"The architectural design of the new Silver Line stations won’t make your heart sing. They are functional, and there are signs of value engineering throughout," reports Kennicott.
Kennicott acknowledges that the above ground stations would be hard to compete with the "spatial drama" of the Metro stations located in downtown Washington D.C. "And yet," says Kennicott, "there is something exhilarating about standing on their platforms and looking at the steel-and-concrete tracks threading off with serpentine elegance into the distance."
Kennicott also says that "everything that can go wrong from an urban design standpoint has gone wrong [in the cities along the Silver Line," but "the mere fact of the Silver Line being built, and now being extended, is one of the most promising signs of healthy civic life in our region."
Read the full story: In new Silver Line stations, an emphasis on the functional
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