Spanish architecture firm Basurama has transformed the ruins of a half-finished electric train project into a pretty amazing space called the Ghost Train Park.
When an abandoned train track was transformed into an elevated urban park space — the High Line — in New York City last year, I was impressed. But now, Lima, Peru, is giving New York a run for its money in the recycled park arena.
Spanish architecture firm Basurama has transformed the ruins of a half-finished electric train project that was abandoned in the 1980s into a pretty amazing space called the Ghost Train Park. Cutting right through the center of Lima, the amusement park is free for children and families and features colorful car tire swings, a canopy line and climbing structures, much of which is made from recycled and/or reclaimed materials. Basurama has completed similar projects in other Latin American cities, all focused on making us think about what we throw away.
I love the idea of reclaiming unused urban spaces for the benefit of city residents. Kids get a safe place to play, the city gets a facelift and, hopefully, others are inspired to reuse and recycle materials themselves. Just check out some of these great images of the Ghost Train Park. Has recycling ever looked so fun?
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Andrew
April 22nd, 2010
Hi, I live right out the front of the “Ghost Train Park” and I do agree it looked a lot nicer and was a bit of a facelift in comparison to much of the street in the area. However, I disagree with the comment of…
“Kids get a safe place to play”
The “playground” was essentially just a jury-rigging of tyres and ropes to create tyre swings and a “tyre swing-horse” with some propaganda posters of Basurama splashed around. The swings were quite sturdy (I had a play at about 2 am one night) and generally they were used with a modicum of adult supervision. But, the playground is located in the middle of a main arterial road from one of the tourist areas of Lima (basically a medium strip of grass), and hence it receives a large amount of traffic. There were no barriers set up so it was highly likely that some overexcited kids may spill out onto the causeway. Also, I do question the wisdom of seting up a “kids attraction site” where they have to cross up to 2 lanes of traffic. And in a city with a population near 8 million, and adding the factor of some loose regulating of traffic laws in the country, the term “a safe place to play” doesn´t sound fitting.