Nijmegen CS in-between plans: a plan cycle for discarded ideologies

Q2 report Âť Socio-Spatial Process in Urban SocietiesÂŤ

Nijmegen CS Square inbetween plans

A Plan Cycle for Discarded Ideologies

by Aleksandrs Feltins 4188810 email: aleksandrs.feltins@gmail.com tutors: Lei Qu,dr. Luisa Calabrese

Delft 2011/12

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* Discarded ideologies : Ideology means the idea that leads the society and hence urban development; planners and urban designers are obedient to it anyway.

Though we are able to build new quality upon present spatial situation which is the result of previous, or discarded ideologies, present on a site of Nijmegen CS square.

The topic of this project is public realm and issues of its renewal.

It means that this project builds upon evaluation and reconfiguration of previous steps of formation and identifies profound base of the new urban life.

Strategic design understood as a site planning, the palimpsest of forces from different scales reshuffled on a surface of Nijmegen CS square.

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Contents 1. Group research: Infrastructure and landscape.

2. Choice of the location, plan-cycle, transformation issue 2.1 Qualitative questions, field trip and its conclusions 2.2 Research: Inter-modality Feature: Spui in Den Haag: ÂťThe Function of the LabyrinthÂŤ 3. Context for the design: problem statement 3.1 Design: Staging the Surface 3.2 Strategy 4. Strategy and Feasibility/Reflections Bibliography

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Boulevard initially intended as a landscape embedded in infrastructure. The function of providing access and space for the movement combined with spaces for recreation, slow pedestrian movement and representation of the city.

Currently there is a perpetual gridlock on the boulevard.

This congestion influences how the city centre is now used for urban functions, and where major concentration of public life is concentrated.

1. Group research: Infrastructure and landscape.

In the beginning of the quarter, first research take was made in groups, covering general topics of Urbanism. Infrastructure in Nijmegen, the topic studied by our team, influenced the choice of the scope of this project.

The nature of infrastructure is twofold:» There is the ‘transportation machine’ in wh ich various modalities of conveying people and goods from one place to another are strictly separated and the networks are specialised. Movement and speed are prescribed unambiguously. Routes are streamlined, and often come free from the ground. The connections between traffic and parcel, between street and address, are weakened or broken. On the larger scale, the transportation machine can realise very direct connections, but in its immediate surroundings it leads to the creation of barriers, the fragmentation of the ground and the formation of enclaves. Noise pollution and air contamination increase the conflict with its immediate environment.« (Palbloom, 2011) Historical boulevard in Nijmegen, the part of the future ring, now is intenselly used for car traffic, as a major North-South connection and as a main access to the city centre for those who prefer automobile. Railway line, which crosses river Waal on the Eastern side of the historical core, defines central area very sharply.

Urban fabric with embedded infrastructure network represents this duality of infrastructure: the example of the Boulevard shows that modality and intensity of traffic changes over time. Thus, these slow changes at certain points of time define new agendas for transormation of urban structures.

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The aspects of infrastructure related to the experience of the landscape: its lines as only ways to move through and perceive city and Waal.

The separation of this Âťtransportation machineÂŤ, putting it above the landscape, makes infrastructure as medium to communicate larger whole: city or region, state.

Since major infrastructure lines crosses the river Waal, they are the lines along which landscape is being perceived. Though one might argue, that they also limit our experience, because the established structure leaves not so much choices.

The third, often overlooked aspect of infrastructure, related to its users and capacity to concentrate people at certain places. In Nijmegen, such a place is Central station.

This project is about this social aspect of infrastructure: public realm sustained by different modalities, embedded in existing infrastructural networks. --> 5

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ÂťVertexesÂŤ of the future ring.

Central station as one of the major entrances to the city Northern station will gain similar importance in the future, when extensions of the city will be consolidated.

Bicycle entrance to the Snelbinder Bus terminal above Ring Highschool

Mall

Albert Hijn Bicycle entrance to the Snelbinder

plynth

police building

housing block

NORTH

Bus terminal above Ring

Mall

Highschool

Albert Hijn

plynth

police building

housing block

Architectural diversity generated by overlapping plans: an intrigue combination to step in-between

2. Choice of the location, plan-cycle, transformation issue

Ring roads as planning idea originate from US, as a measure to solve aggravating traffic problems in inner cities. Now, virtually every American town has one in the form of highway around downtown, though in some cities ring roads are considered to be a problem.

In Europe, ring roads are something between highway and the boulevard, regarding context and structure of the certain city. Usually, ring roads define the shape of the city centre, especially if city has grown from historical node outwards, in form of boulevards.

But what happens in Nijmegen? The new central area defined by the ring road is twice as big as historical core. At the same time, some segments of the new Ring are traced upon streets of questionable capacity. Hence its performance as a Âťroundabout with uniform traffic flow or quality is questionable.

Central Station and potentially important Northern station are at the nodes of the ring. In case of CS this importance as a node is not only geometrical, but also urban: it is place which all bus lines cross and is major pedestrian/cyclist entrance to the city centre and to the west.

Starting from late Nineteenth century till now, the place has been transformed numerous times.

What now represents the central station area is complex landscape of urban and architectural interventions on existing topographical terrain.

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Plan-cycle Âť ... can be understood as a closed cycle or a combination !"#$%&'( of linked circles, `an upward spiral, in the sense of increasing knowledge, understanding and overview [Hulsbergen and Kriens, 2000] Urban regeneration is social task for urbanists, which can be understood as a deliberate operation intended to make fit form to certain process in the society.

Research methods in social sciences such as ethnography (qualitative research undertaken by anthropologists), also follows cyclical pattern, where eventually researcher arrives and departs from updated questions, which changes in time. [Spradley, 1980] What helped to use (though interpreting) cyclical pattern during this studio, is the notion of the scope and qualitative questions for the research (and design in this occasion). The scope of the social situation studied by ethnographer can be understood as the specific aspect of the infrastructure as a provider of people in space. The qualitative questions should have been formulated to make the first and the most crucial insights in problems and opportunities of the location chosen.

Start formulate design objective on a base of the evaluation of the previously implemented regeneration and urban development projects.-->

Plan-cycle and ethnographical research cycle: complementary methodologies shaped the process of design during this studio

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Spatial setting formed mainly by urban design. Drawing, prepared before the field trip, serve as a base to depict qualitative actor/user/participant observation.

Layer of use drawn on the previously prepared topographical drawing. Qualitative conclusions summarized on a spread to the right.

2.1 Qualitative questions, field trip and its conclusions

To ascertain qualities, performance and social scope of the site, field trip was neccessary. In order to find out how the place actually works previous preparation was necessary.

Detailed site plan was prepared »indoors« on a scale 1:500, including existing »hardware« present on the square.

Secondly, some research qualitative questions had been brought on site. As Spradley suggests, if one follows ethnographical research cycle, it is neccessary to start with the broad descriptive questions and then ascertain with more detailed observations.

The main question was, who’s on site: which actors are in play. Secondly, how the previous design stage this show of perfomance. And finally, how one can charactarize this relationship of user/actor and design.

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Traffic organized on one level produces mere isolated pedestrian »islands« occupied by mobile retailers. Those also speculate on absence of benches on the square.

Tunnelweg, which initially seemed detached highway, used for pedestrian movement however: there’s a bus stop underneath and the only ramp which is used by the cyclists coming both from centre and western suburbs.

Tourism information hardly finds appropriate place on the square. Though it used as a wind screen or understood as a partition wall.

The oldest urban design of the square, which originates from 1970s, still present on the site.

Exploded view: Three levels of square: the entrance to the station on top, bicycle parking in between, Tunnelweg on its base.

The results of observations summarized on a table above. The spatial setting appeared to be rather complex than it seemed to be initially. Main actors on the site are busses; users are commuters by train, on a bus, cyclists and not-central-station related pedestrians as a minority.

Two important notions came out of the field trip.

First of all, the modernist »transportation machine«, though very effective for its function, is strictly separated from pedestrian space.

Secondly, the use of square is driven by inter-modality: users change from train to bus, to bike or on foot and vise versa.

Functionalist structure used in urban way, with unexpected qualities and separated from other structures. How can we make structure not only functional (transport, change of the modes) to more urban and connected? --> Places of inter-modality: what can we learn from reference studies? --> 9

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The inter-modality diagram: the change of modes laid out on a three-dimensional Nijmegen CS square

2.2 Research: Inter-modality as a social potential and reference (Spui in Den Haag)

Inter-modality as a social potential: brings users to the site. Commuters are regarded as users, transportation machines and architecture/urban design as an active actor.

For reference studies, Spui underground was chosen and similar field trip undertaken. Impressions are summarized in ÂťfeatureÂŤ on the page to the right.

The Souterain Infrastructure The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) designed the underground : the tram tunnel under Grote Marktstraat with two stations and a parking garage. During the construction, the Souterain was plagued by setbacks, especially by leakages. Now that the complex is in use, the criticism has fallen silent and the meaning of the Underground has become apparent.

More than a kilometer of architecture, it is a building with links to the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s heart on several levels.

Cars and trams are elegantly served underground. Grote Marktstraat, a new traffic artery by Berlage dating from the 1920s, became the domain of the shopping public in 2004. [Meyer, van der Burg,2005] 10

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Feature: Spui in Den Haag: »The Function of the Labyrinth«

Den Haag has the biggest density of the OMA’s projects.

The buildings by this firm represented the most ‘progressive’ architecture in the 1990ies, from at least my personal point of view, a style of the time. In this city, the style is superfluous, and OMA’s masterpieces are now blurred with the bright architectural background in its center.

Den Haag, as Erik Pasveer has noted, spatially, not only socially, is an ‘open city’ — the grid which gives legible structure and also allows continuity.

This simple and legible structure is though intervened by complexity of infrastructure — try to walk around Den Haag Centraal for example.

Spui underground tram station is least visible work of OMA I ever seen. It lies underneath busy Spui shopping area in front of Town Hall, Library, in between China Town and Dutch Parliament area.

Long, steep, stairs leads to the underground. Just below the street’s level one can see already trams, escalators and ticket machines — well, very similar to Ubahn in Cologne (which is tram-like means of public transportation.

But, it is not that generic: suddenly, one can notice cars, exhibited like in a saloon on strange inbetween level, and neat exposition of political posters from 1990ies. The tram is still there, but one is already lost and tries to understand, weather he is in museum or parking garage.

The labyrinth from Tati’s urban movies comes in mind: the unexpected sights on mundane way to the tram stop. The feeling of lost is even amplified with finish of the surfaces: typically interior parquet and sculptural raw concrete with fill light from the theatre.

Took a walk through the parking: the typical layout of lanes is accentuated with green roundabouts, typical for Dutch town. And these steep stairs behind glass walls. Went out on the other side of Spui (recognized that I am still there thanks to the names of the shops which use Spui at every occasion). The entrance is hidden beneath timber-clad bridge, which doesn’t intersect any river though.

Why labyrinth? Well, probably we need medium to mitigate contrast of legibility and complexity of transpiration networks, which no longer follows any common sense.

OMA’s section of Spui underground scaled vertically 10x.

Tram track on the bottom, shopping street on top and two levels in-between.

--> How spatial structure can be improved to make better use of the inter-modality and to add new urban uses?

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Nijmegen SC square within context of the city. To the right the diagram of almost finished regeneration project of central Nijmegen.

3. Context for the design: problem statement and urban objectives

On a city’s scale, square is both one of the major entrances to the historical core, and important east-west connection for all kinds of traffic.

It is important to note, that in 2012 the last project of regeneration of the historical core will be finished: parking garage underneath the segment of the boulevard which connects Roundabout and CS square.

The ongoing and yet to be finished renewal project, aims towards public realm. It was made feasible to implement involving provision of considerable amount of space for commerce/retail, thus sustaining public space both in terms of implementation and users. [Jaarboek landschapsarchitectuur en stedenbouw] Development potential of the rail yard to the west should be taken into account as well — what kind of possibilities it brings?

Hence these aspects brings us to the next level of plan cycle’s spiral: it is impossible to neglect the previous and future development projects.

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2 1

Three main problems which informed the task for design

Well, it is possible to point out the »problems« which are stated as objectives for design, if one is willing.

1- The square as a main entrance for large amount of pedestrians. However, horizontal organization of traffic should be re-defined as soon as possible to make more sense of previous regeneration efforts in the historical core.

2- East-west connection, already existing as a Tunnelweg, may be coupled by the extension of the central station as a tunnel station. Though the existing potentials of Tunnelweg as profound base should be taken into account.

3- Railyard to the west may be developed in the future. The specific task should be given to the area in relation to connectivity and currently separated western suburbs and centre.

What could sustain public life in the future? – connections between parts of the city, defined by infrastructure, public transportation, position in the intersection of the routes,temporality of events — how can we build public realm around these?

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Site plan on intermediate scale compared with exisiting site plan and objectives formulated on the previous spread .

3.1 Design: Staging the Surface

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To be clear, design in this case was understood as site planning, hence the stratigis operation was designed by means of new site organization.

Consists of Scale of the square and urban scale. On this page above, the Site plan on intermediate scale is presented.

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1 2

3

1

Exisiting square reshaped.

Plan of underground in the upper right corner with pedestrian space highlited.

Major improvements by means of reorganization of the horizontal surface.

1- Existing bus terminalhad been split to Southern and Northern part. Bicycle parking curently located on Southern side had been put to the underground.

2-New entrance to the underground with bicycle parking and large retail programme from Tunnelweg. This would strategically improve situation with existing tunnel and exploit current movement of pedestrians.

3- Small improvements though crucial to organize urban life of the square (elaborated more in detail on following pages)

How can we implement this site plan? Is it a single project? Who may be involved?

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retail

bicycle storage

Exploded view of the proposed design outcome: seamless pedestrian square grounded on additional programmes downstairs

New seamless square achieved by means of re-organizing its horizontal surface.

Nevertheless also smallest detail of new urban design is crucial to improve qualities.

The detail depicted on the page to the right serves as a solution to the seating ÂťproblemÂŤ currently persisting on a square, thus making space available for a longer and unsolicited stay. At the same time, this element marks the delineation of zones of movement and temporal activities in front of the big public program (possibly cinema).

Underground level, connected with the square by two escalators and elevator accommodate enlarged bicycle parking and big retail program thus ensuring maximum use of inter-modality.

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Design of the bench which accommodates all modes of temporary stay in convenient way plus separating pedestrian flows on the square

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co mp let ion

strategy 2. sta ge

Phasing

0. sta ge

Priv ate de ve lop er

Mu nic ipa lity

NS po ort

A—B

Strategic Plan 1:2000 Improved square is separated in two zones in subtle way: the Building envelope western part at the entrance is a space for movement to and from station to the buses and city; eastern part will accommodates temporary activities and outdoor events, and is open to appropriation by the residents between those events

1. sta ge

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Stakeholders

Program Student Housing&PopPodium New Villas office in the residence

Cinema and Housing

Shops and Cafes

Multif. railyard development

Horizontal organization

D—A

CS square (minor improvement)

CS square (major improvement)

new western bus station

E—F

Underground

new station tunnel

multif. underground

B-plan for underground

tunnelweg upgrade

Strategy in the context

E

F D A

B

C

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Alergic response to Q2 assigment »Socio-spatial process in urban societies« by Aleksandrs Feltins 4188810 email: aleksandrs.feltins@gmail.com tutors: Lei Qu, Luisa Calabrese

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Pedestrian qualities of the existing boulevard are strengthened by means of addition of the program: villas may be used for public functions such as restaurants with outdoor terraces on the northern side; ground floor of the residential buildings on the Southern side may be extended with verandas for small retail on the ground floor and terrace for those from first floor

Bâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;C

it is still reasonable to suppose that railway tracks will be used for initial puroposes; hence western tracks are retained for potential extention (fast or regional trains)

Sections and their key map (bottom left)

Vertical organization of movement transcends property lines above and brings stakeholders into one strategic project. Though who is involved and interested in regeneration of Nijmegen CS square?

--> 19

B-plan for underground

Underground

Horizontal organization

Building envelope

Strategic Plan 1:2000

Pr

ort

po

NS

ipa

lity

nic

Mu

ge

ge

multif. underground

new station tunnel

new western bus station

CS square (major improvement)

CS square (minor improvement)

Multif. railyard development

Shops and Cafes

Cinema and Housing

New Villas office in the residence

Student Housing&PopPodium

Program

strategy ion

lop

er

ve

de

iva te

Phasing

sta

ge 0.

sta 1.

sta 2.

let mp

20 co

Stakeholders

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D

F

The purpose of this diagram is to illustrate how the Nijmegen CS square project can be implemented, or rather embedded in adjoining development programmes.

This means, that public realm is improved involving the most powerful stakeholders, such as NS/Poort.

The timeline is schematic, without concrete time intervals. Though its intention was to show the problematic of development of the site: on the one hand, seemingly »modest« improvements in organization may lead to long intermediate periods of development of underground spaces.

Strategic plan

Strategy in the context

A

E

C

B

Alergic response to Q2 assigment »Socio-spatial process in urban societies« by Aleksandrs Feltins 4188810 email: aleksandrs.feltins@gmail.com tutors: Lei Qu, Luisa Calabrese

tunnelweg upgrade

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Plan Square 1:1000

Pla 1:1 multifunctional underground

improving seating

multifunctional building

finish square

ground floor extension

southern bus terminal

0

1

2

3

4. Strategy and Feasibility/Reflections

Public realm and its improvement, or renewal, should be embedded in other development initiatives. In this project, the solution was found in interest of NS to develop Nijmegen CS, and in potentially important development program on the other side of the square, which is currently vacant.

These two stake holders, namely NS and private investor, should be persuaded by the municipality in importance of public realm for their programmes. Thus NS can benefit from better connection to the city investing either in Tunnelweg and/or new station tunnel. Private investor who would be a stakeholder in the underground development, may benefit from pedestrian flow from to Tunnelweg.

However, serious questins arise when one considers participation of NS: such big investment in infrastructure, such as new tunnel or improvement of exisitng, should be grounded or connected to the bigger economical goal, such as development of western brownfield-railyard.

Nevertheless some seemingly minor improvements, such as addition of new programme on the boulevard, improvemnt of street furniture on the square, or partial removal of traffic obstacles such as separated bus lane making it less congested will improve situation considerably.

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Plan Underground 1:1000

e

Alergic response to Q2 assigment »Socio-spatial process in urban societies« by Aleksandrs Feltins 4188810 email: aleksandrs.feltins@gmail.com tutors: Lei Qu, Luisa Calabrese

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Bibliography J. P. Spradley, Participant observation. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1980.

Technische Universiteit Delft. and L. Burg, In dienst van de stad : 25 jaar werk van de stedenbouwkundige diensten van Amsterdam, Den Haag, Rotterdam = Working for the city : 25 years of work from the urban design departments of Amsterdam, The. Amsterdam: SUN, 2005.

F. Palmboom, Drawing the ground, landscape urbanism today : the work of Palmbout Urban Landscapes. Basel: Birkhäuser, 2010.

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