Bringing Paris’ ghost stations to life: Swimming pools, bars and even an underground garden centre among subterranean ideas for French capital’s disused Metro stops
Below Paris’ streets, 133 miles of track form one of Europe’s biggest underground Metro systems. But hidden among them are 16 ghost stations that have been abandoned for decades and nearly forgotten.
Some of the ‘fantome stations’ were left vacant after the Nazi occupation and others have never been opened to the public. However, new plans could see them being redesigned as swimming pools, night clubs and restaurants.
The redevelopment was proposed by Paris’ mayoral candidate Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet. She commissioned the collection of illustrations, drawn up by two architects, which show what Arsenal station may look like after a sprucing up.
Kosciusko-Morizet said the designs were just ‘examples of the field of possibilities’ and, if elected, she will ask Parisians to decide how best to fill the empty platforms.
