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 Subtlety and sudden grandeur are this stunning station's stock-in-trade. For travelers either arriving at or departing from this station, it starts off quietly.The walls of the platforms are covered in a quiet pattern of brown rustic brick. It undulates slightly in and out of flush, giving a feeling of warmth, calm motion, and rhythmic life. Similarly, the brown-brick kiosks (kitty-cornered from one another at the corner of Monk and Allard) are modern but unassuming, decorated only with a brick representation of the metro logo. |
  
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However, as they move into the station, passengers are astonished to come upon a series of balconies, now closed for the safety of the visually impaired, that overlook the gigantic volume of the mezzanine. |
This immense space towers four stories above the mezzanine floor, dwarfing the ticket booths, turnstiles, and concession. The sudden power of the space takes the travellers' breath away after the muted humility of the platforms and entrances. It is supported on two huge flying buttresses over the transept area, which rest on bedrock. |
Huge, sweeping curves lend thrill to the space, especially a great semicircular arc from floor to ceiling beside the escalator. The curve is balanced excitingly with the escalator's diagonal line. Another large curve is raked around from above the control booth to the wall over the concession. The ceiling vaults, pillars, and walkways above develop on multiple levels, which gives interest to the volume's faces. Sombre tones - grey concrete walls with brown cladding - are used so as not to interfere with the experience of the volume's grandeur.
 
Two sculptures by Germain Bergeron dominate the space from either side of the bridge; persons coming from the Angrignon platform must pass under them to get to the mezzanine. Made from welded steel tubes painted orange, the sculptures, entitled Pic et Pelle represent two metro construction workers wielding a pick and a shovel. The curved, monumental, and profoundly dignified nature of these sculptures mirrors the station in which they stand.
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