The Eye

Can This Abandoned Paris Métro Station Be Turned Into a Swimming Pool?

An underground swimming pool is one idea for a disused Paris Métro station.

Courtesy of Oxo architectes and Laisné Architecte

About a dozen of Paris Métro stations are inactive. Some of them were closed during World War II to save money and have been lying dormant ever since. Just two of the closed stations are used, for film shoots and to shelter the homeless.

A proposal to turn an abandoned metro station into an art gallery.

Courtesy of Oxo architectes and Laisné Architecte

But in the final stages of the race for the next mayor of Paris, candidate Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet has piqued the public imagination—and conquered a few hearts and minds—by offering a vision of some proposed future uses for the ghost stations, including a theater, an art gallery, a swimming pool, a nightclub, and a restaurant.

A proposed restaurant in an unused Paris Métro station would make the rats happy at least.

Courtesy of Oxo architectes and Laisné Architecte

Paris transport officials note that it would take a lot of money and structural work to make the abandoned spaces sound enough to be used as public gathering spots.

A proposed underground nightclub.

Courtesy of Oxo architectes and Laisné Architecte

Should Kosciusko-Morizet win the election, she has said she will invite Parisians to offer their input on the eventual possible uses of the abandoned metro stations, but these renderings by architects Manal Rachdi and Nicolas Laisné give a glimpse of the underground possibilities.

A proposed theater space.

Courtesy of Oxo architectes and Laisné Architecte