At the railway station of Overvecht, in the Dutch city of Utrecht, one option for getting to the train is by slide. Image / supplied
The entrance to the train station at Overvecht, in the Dutch city of Utrecht, was unlovely and unloved. So they put in a slide. And, just to highlight that the idea was to have some fun, they called it a "transfer accelerator".
The station was only 25 years old but
its bleak concrete was already crumbling and the place was widely regarded as unsafe. Design company HIK Ontwerpers was hired for the makeover: they rethought the circulation routes and added grassed areas, shrubs and trees, along with new stairs and terraces, to create a kind of courtyard amphitheatre. And the transfer accelerator.
They also installed other features, including poetry written in lights and a fully equipped outdoor kitchen for the public to use for picnics and social gatherings.
HIK Ontwerpers said the slide was a "gift to the rail commuters", which they hoped would help create "a playful urban area that could generate positive energy in a disadvantaged neighbourhood".
It's not just for children: adults in suits, clutching their briefcases, have frequently been seen to use it.
