TROGLOPHILE CITY

At every metro station, people ascend to the surface, emerging into the light of the city. The train keeps on going through darkness as the city pumps flows of energy through the network. The maneuver yard terminal dissolves this fiction as immobile trains rests on the city.

The subsurface or subterranean realm has long been distinguished from the surface, or epigean realm. If borrowed from Biology, a large number of terms have been employed to classify the subterranean realm, such as stygian, hypogean and endogean. Here, the key distinguishing feature of the two realms is that of light. While the surface realm is photic, the subterranean realm is aphotic.

Light here is not only light.

If we insist on the biological analogies, we could separate species in general as: species limited to live in the surface, named edaphobionts; species limited to subterranean habitats are called troglobionts; and facultative species which have populations both on the surface and in subterranean habitats, are given the names stygophiles and troglophiles.

The morphology of subterranean species exemplifies a kind of convergent evolution, basically driven by the selective forces of resource scarcity, environmental uniformity and yet again darkness. As humans (surface dwellers), why go underground?

Hezbollah tunnels were first encountered during the Second Lebanon War in 2006 and are said to be equipped with medical facilities, dormitories, kitchens, toilets, water and heating systems that guarantees life underground for months. The Cave Temple on Elephanta island in Mumbai is more than a setting for divine manifestations, as it is an image of the heavenly mountain residence of Shiva and, on a higher level of association, of the structure of the universe itself. The technique of rock-cut architectural style from an existing mountain can’t be seen as a mere esthetic preference, but the only acceptable way of achieving the desired result.

The most apparent subterranean example in contemporary cities can be found in mass transportation, more specifically in metro systems. However, the metro network of a city, as one integral entity, was never the object of study of architects.

If we deal with the physical integrality of a metro network as an architectural object, what could we extract? A good exercise is to isolate the entire metro system of New York and move it above Central Park and amongst the skyscrapers. Its perception might shift from a mere transport tool into a crucial metropolitan object to be taken in consideration.