Paris’ 16 “ghost stations” which have been disused for decades could have new life breathed into them as leisure spaces, if ideas put forward by a politician come to fruition.
As part of her election campaign, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, of the UMP Party, has commissioned Oxo Architects and Laisné Architects to come up with designs for alternative uses for these redundant spaces.
The designs show how Arsenal station – a disused stop near the Bastille which has remained closed since 1939 – could be transformed into a swimming pool, theatre, concert hall, nightclub, art gallery or a refectory-style restaurant.
“Why can’t Paris take advantage of its underground potential and invent new functions for these abandoned places?” says architect, Manal Rachdi of Oxo Architects. “These places could show they’re still able to offer new urban experiments. Turning a former Metro station into a swimming pool or gym could be a way to compensate for the lack of sports and leisure facilities in some areas.”
If Kosciusko-Morizet is successful in getting elected she plans to crowdsource other ideas for repurposing Paris’ abandoned stations. Undoubtedly she is inspired by the Lowline, a project which aims to create an underground park in a disused trolley terminal in New York.
London also has underground plans on the drawing board. Pop Down, an underground mushroom farm in disused mail tunnels in London, won the High Line for London competition last year.
Co-creator, Nicholas Worley, says that as opportunities at street level in cities are getting harder to find forgotten rundown spaces underground offer potential for new life.
