Toronto's new subway stops are designed to make you feel 'a little bit of joy' on your commute

When transit riders walk into the new Highway 407 subway station for the first time on Sunday, they'll be greeted by sprawling panes of technicolour glass; the illusion of dripping paint and fresh brushstrokes across each of them.

One stop north, at Vaughan Metropolitan Centre, riders will descend to the subway platform under a ceiling of mirrors, with skylights dotted among the panels.

The stations are part of the Toronto Transit Commission's new six-stop Toronto-York Spadina extension, which is set to become the city's first subway expansion in 15 years.

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But for the people who toiled over the design of the new stations, there's also hope they'll offer riders something more than just a faster commute.

'A little bit of joy'

"I have to assume that on one of those really cold, miserable January mornings ... there will be people down there travelling to a job that they'd probably rather not do," said Will Alsop, the renowned British architect who was part of a group responsible for the Pioneer Village and Finch West stations.

"What I want them to feel is a little bit of cheer, a little bit of joy," he added.

Alsop's two stations stand in stark contrast with one another — from the boxy, coloured glass of Finch West to the curved, towering metal exterior of Pioneer Village.

The distinctive features and artwork at each stop will be a major benefit to their communities, their designers said.

"These new stations each form a node, a civic landmark and identity for their neighbourhoods," said Paul Raff, the artist behind the mirrored ceiling at Vaughan Metropolitan Centre.

"[The ceiling] is punctuated by skylights in a seemingly irregular, random pattern," Raff said on CBC's Metro Morning. "But they are actually strategically placed to bounce natural light deep into the subway."

At an open house for the new stations earlier this fall, Raff watched future riders gaze up at the mirrors, taking long-range selfies in the reflection.

"It imbues the subway station with a kind of colour and shifting dynamic," he said.

David Pearl, the artist behind the Highway 407 station, wanted his stop to take on a similar energy, but used a different strategy to get there.

To create the impression of an artist's fresh canvas on the station's windows, Pearl took photographs of wet paintings and printed them onto the windows.

The result projects lively shadows into the station.

"The environment will be different depending on the time of day you come or go," Pearl said.

From sketch to finished product

The designers each lauded the TTC for its minimal interference in the design process, resulting in stations that looked very much like their original sketches.

"It takes courage to commit to do beautiful buildings, striking buildings and making the city a great place to live and work in and move around in," Pearl said.

If the public agrees, it will have come at a cost. The final bill for the six-stop extension is expected to come in at around $3.18 billion, split between the federal government, the province, the city of Toronto and York Region.

Pearl seems convinced the project has been worth it, in spite of the cost overruns and the delays that pushed the opening back three years..

"It's simpler not to bother. It takes courage to bother to do something great."