It’s Guomao. You know, that big “place” in eastern urban Beijing where everything’s supposed to make sense. Make sense as in economically. Financially. Commercially. OK, at 6 PM every weekday, the bridge at Guomao starts not making sense — as in a traffic jam (OK, not just one). But it’s rush hour. It makes sense. Again.
So everything at Guomao must absolutely make sense. Yes, we hear you. It also makes sense for futurologists and futurology-oriented Beijingologists that the core part of the CBD will be reality only after the Olympics. Makes sense (like I said) if you want to make people to keep on making sense of Beijing after 2008, when sports would have made its mark (made sense?) on the capital.
So hear me once again, absolutely everything at Guomao must make sense.
Except this.
Look at the image. Look at it closely. Get a magnifying glass out, or switch on Mac OS X’s screen zooming feature, if you’re not sure what you’re seeing makes sense.
Line 10 before Line 1? What is this, reverse mathematics?
Actually, this makes sense.
This, ladies and gents, is one of those Line 10 entrances to Guomao station, which will be expanded in the not-all-that-distant future to be an interchange with Line 1.
Still, this may not make real sense. I mean, seriously, why did they stick Line 10 in front of Line 1? Shouldn’t it be the other way ’round?
Actually, this is supposed to make perfect sense. They must have intentionally stuck Line 10 in front of Line 1, because this very entrance will first bring you to the world of Line 10 before letting you through to a passageway to Line 1.
When all’s said and done, Guomao may end up being one of the odder stations in the Beijing Subway system. 10 exits (7 open by the time the Olympics are in town) in all. A split central (or island) platform. And incredible architectural wonders — remember, they’re building this right underneath one of those incredibly difficult combo bridges!
Our hats are off to those who dared make Guomao not just reality, but also a bit of interchange reality.
And making sense of our daily commutes.
Dude, you’re kidding, right?