There are 16 abandoned metro stations in Paris. Plans have come to light that turn the city's underground into a place for socializing and recreation. Can you imagine swimming exactly where the subway ran in 1931?
Sixteen Paris metro stations, which were abandoned between 1930 and 1970, some of them even built and never opened, are abandoned places with a perspective, which until now have only been used for the purposes of advertising campaigns and films.
One of them, a station abandoned in 1935 Porte des Lilas, and in 2001 she was in the movie Amelie used as a backdrop. According to some, including a candidate for mayor of Paris Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, these spaces have much more perspective. That's why she engaged an architect to prepare the concept of interesting plans that have traveled around the world Manala Rachdia from Oxo Architects and Nicolas Laisné from Laisné Associés. They apply all their ideas to the Arsenal station near the Bastille, which turns into a swimming pool, theater, concert hall, art gallery, restaurant, night club – in short, a place for Parisians to hang out.
"Why not give these abandoned spaces a new function? Far removed from their original purpose and more than a century after the opening of the Paris underground network, these spaces could show that they are still capable of offering new urban experiences," said Rachdi. The plans have faced criticism due to the enormous costs and the safety aspect, as electricity still flowing through the tunnels would make it extremely dangerous to offer these spaces for use by the general public. In any case, let the experts judge the safety. Swimming underground sounds like a crazy idea, doesn't it? But for this, first and foremost, the victory of the mayoral candidate Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet (elections will be held on March 30) will be necessary, who - in case of victory - promises even more ideas for revitalizing the Parisian underground.
See what the renovated Arsenal station would look like in the gallery.
