Croix Rouge métro station Via Reinvent Paris
Three phantom Métro stations could be reborn as part of new competition ‘Reinvent Paris’.
The Champ de Mars, Croix-Rouge and Saint-Martin are among 34 subterranean sites earmarked for reinvention by Paris’ city hall for the initiative, which seeks to redevelop unused pockets of the French capital.
Covering a combined 100,000-150,000 sq m, the proposed sites are owned by regional authorities and range from tunnels and subways to parking lots, cellars and a former Renault garage.
Paris’ mayor Anne Hidalgo said that Paris’s subterranean spaces are an untapped resource and that ‘We should be doing something with them.’
But it’s not the first time that some of the city’s 16 abandoned train stations have been touted for revival. Would-be-mayor Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet wanted to turn several into subterranean swimming pools, bars and a nightclub back in 2014. Those plans never got off the ground.
There are limitations to what can architects and developers can do with the locations, as outlined in the competition’s guidelines. The brief also stipulates they must be developed as economic, cultural and social spaces.
Submissions to the second edition of Reinvent Paris must be made by November, but it’ll be a little while before the future of the subterranean venues is revealed… Shortlisted proposals will be announced next year and the finalists in November 2018.
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