The huge train station part of a £29.8bn project that’s the world’s 'most beautiful'

Villejuif station (Image: Getty)

Only a few Britons could point to Villejuif on a map. A quiet suburb just south of Paris, it has long been overshadowed by the capital it borders. But beneath its streets, one of Europe's most ambitious construction projects is reshaping the ground on which it stands. Villejuif became home to a vast new underground station as part of the £29.8 billion Grand Paris Express, the transport overhaul of Paris. Recently named by Prix Versailles, the international architecture award supported by UNESCO, Villejuif was ranked the "most beautiful" station in the world. 

The new Villejuif–Gustave Roussy station opened in January last year, and since then, it's been turning heads. Designed by French architect Dominique Perrault, the vast underground hub feels more like a modern gallery than a metro stop. Above, a massive circular glass roof dominates the plaza, allowing sunlight to pour down into the station below. 

Villejuif station has 62 metres in diameter and is 51 meters deep (Image: Getty)

Inside the station, the colossal station feels even bigger. Long, sweeping escalators carry passengers down deep into the earth, past walls of concrete, steel and glass. At the centre, a giant shaft lets daylight reach the lower levels, giving the station an almost cathedral-like quality.

The station connects Villejuif directly to central Paris in around 15–16 minutes on the newly extended Line 14 (BFM TV). It's a major shift for a suburb once known mainly for its hospital district. The station, situated 50 metres underground in the Campus Grand Parc eco-district, was designed to accommodate up to 100,000 passengers per day.

Architect Dominique Perrault poses on a staircase inside the Villejuif Station (Image: Getty)

The winning station is served by 32 escalators - including two at 40 metres - and 16 lifts, The Connexion reports. Art makes the site even more stunning. A solar-clock installation by Perrault and Chilean artist Iván Navarro sits at level -1, composed of 58 illuminated boxes that combine mirrors, neon forms and astronomical names to create a cosmic visual effect.

The new station is also a statement that Villejuif wants a bigger role in the region - a place once on the margins is suddenly part of a megaproject drawing global attention to it.