Sydney station named among the world's most beautiful passenger stations for 2025
The 'World's Most Beautiful Passenger Stations' for 2025 have been named and Sydney's Gadigal Station has made the prestigious list.
The award by Prix Versailles, a series of architectural competitions, which includes airports, hotels and other buildings, recognised seven stunning stations around the world.
Labelled as "absolute modernity" in the Prize's official statement, the metro station was designed by Foster + Partners in collaboration with Cox Architecture.
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Sydney's Gadigal Station has been named one of the most beautiful in the world. Getty
The station name honours the Gadigal People, the Traditional Custodians of the land around Sydney's CBD.
Callum Morton's The Underneath - a bold tiled installation located at both station entrances – was also acknowledged for its creative impact.
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Comprising of 10,000 brightly-coloured porcelain enamel tiles, the work forms two 13-metre-high murals that depict stylised train tunnels.
Welcoming around 15,700 passengers each day, Gadigal Station was one of six new metro stations to open below the city in August 2024 as part of the new Sydney Metro.
Brightly-coloured porcelain enamel tiles depict stylised train tunnels. Getty
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, secured two places on this year's list.
The first is the King Abdullah Financial District [KAFD] Station, designed by the Zaha Hadid Architects, which has a fluid, wave-like roof meant to reference desert dunes.
The second station to make the shortlist is Qasr Al Hokm Station, by architectural firm Snøhetta. The design includes an inverted conical canopy that works like a periscope to reflect city movement and light into the station below.
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, secured two places including King Abdullah Financial District Metro Station. Getty
France also received recognition for two different stations in 2025.
Saint-Denis-Pleyel Station was designed by architects Kengo Kuma & Associates and has a unique, light-filled space rising 35-metres high.
Meanwhile, Villejuif-Gustave Roussy Station, designed by Dominique Perrault, plays with reflections and light, using metallic finishes of various textures.
Villejuif-Gustave Roussy Station, designed by Dominique Perrault is in France. Supplied
Also in Europe, Mons Station in Belgium received the honour thanks to its cathedral-like white central gallery.
Baiyun Station in Guangzhou, China, beneath the city's bustling business district was also on the list.
"The commitment and the technical and aesthetic prowess demanded by these structures are the highest possible tribute to the building community," said Jérôme Gouadain, Secretary General of the Prix Versailles.
"At each site, beauty is given concrete form, like a lung breathing new life into the city, a shared symbolic territory in the service of its inhabitants."
The Prix Versailles World's Most Beautiful Stations List 2025:
- Gadigal Station (Sydney, Australia)
- Mons Station (Mons, Belgium)
- Baiyun Station (Guangzhou, China)
- Saint-Denis – Pleyel Station (Saint-Denis, France)
- Villejuif – Gustave Roussy Station (Villejuif, France)
- Qasr Al Hokm Station (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)
- KAFD Station (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)
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