Paris metro station Villejuif-Gustave Roussy named world’s most beautiful
International architecture award supported by Unesco given to stop on metro line 14
The Prix Versailles jury praised the station’s combination of scale, clarity and technical ambition
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A new station on Paris’s Line 14 has been named the most beautiful in the world by the Prix Versailles, the international architecture award supported by Unesco.
Villejuif-Gustave Roussy, which opened to passengers in January 2025, topped the global ranking in the “Gares et Stations” category and is now the flagship example of the Grand Paris Express design programme.
The station, located 50 metres underground in the Campus Grand Parc eco-district, was designed by architect Dominique Perrault.
It is the deepest station in France, marked by a vast central glass canopy channeling daylight down to the platforms.
Stainless-steel walls, polished and satin-finished, amplify the light and create a shifting play of reflections throughout the cavernous chamber.
The Prix Versailles jury for 2025 praised the station’s combination of scale, clarity and technical ambition.
Designed for up to 100,000 passengers per day, the winning station is served by 32 escalators - including two at 40 metres - and 16 lifts.
A 70-metre-wide central void, left partly empty, allows natural light to penetrate deep into the concourse and towards the platforms, reducing the sense of enclosure normally associated with deep-level transport hubs.
Art is integrated into the site. 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 Grand Paris Express system will add 68 stations across the Ile-de-France region over the coming years.
Saint-Denis-Pleyel, the northern terminus of Line 14, was also shortlisted, reinforcing the international impact of France’s metro expansion.
Other French projects also featured in this year’s awards. In the Restaurants category, Ducasse Baccarat in Paris won first prize, while Nice’s Hôtel du Couvent received a special award for interior design in the Hotels category.
Marseille-Provence Airport’s Terminal 1 and the Colisée in Chartres both won special interior prizes, the latter recognised for its green roof and its role as a major sports facility for a small city.
