The Subway Slide Makes Commuting Fun
Story by:
Jenni Chasteen
Navigating through a busy city when you’re trying to get somewhere can be a nightmare. People stop on the steps to chat or check their phone. Meanwhile, you’ve got a train to catch. Dutch design firm HIK Ontwerpers had a more entertaining response than another sign asking everyone to keep moving: a slide.
A Railway Station Slide in Utrecht, Netherlands
The installation was part of the 2011 makeover of Utrecht Overvecht railway station in the Netherlands. Although the original headline calls it a subway slide, the setting was a railway station. The slide offered an alternative way down beside the entrance steps. Finally, a commute with a playground option.
Contemporary coverage called it the “transfer accelerator,” a name attributed to ProRail. Which is an excellent way to make a slide sound like something that required a very serious planning meeting. Please direct all questions about the wheee factor to the infrastructure department.
More Than a Shortcut
The surrounding renovation mattered, too. The railway design archive Spoorbeeld records that HIK redesigned part of the staircase with seating steps and greenery, as well as adding the slide. The project gave people somewhere to pause, alongside a rather more playful way to descend.
That makes it an interesting little piece of public-space design: a familiar playground idea placed somewhere adults normally associate with timetables and being late. The stairs remained part of the setting. The slide simply gave the descent a different personality.
Making the Daily Commute a Little More Fun
It seems like a great way to make the trip down more memorable. Whether the train waits for your grand entrance is another matter entirely.
And yes, it’s still hard not to imagine it overrun with teenagers trying to use it for skate tricks. Mostly, we’re impressed that someone looked at a station entrance and thought: needs a slide.
It’s all fun and game until somebody pees on it.
What a stair gap! …hmm