Maarten van Bremen, Jeroen van Erp & Maarten Lever
Designing the system
Contents 4 Introduction 6
In conversation with Nathalie de Vries Catja Edens
10 Genesis Maarten Lever
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A vision for the future Jeroen van Erp & Maarten van Bremen
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Not a horizontal skyscraper Jakub Certowicz
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The power of repetition Jeroen van Erp
Creating flow Maarten van Bremen & Maarten Lever
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Solving specials Maarten van Bremen
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Under construction Catja Edens
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Talking tiles Jeroen van Erp & Maarten Lever
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On the move Jeroen van Erp & Maarten van Bremen
Designing the system Maarten Lever & Jeroen van Erp
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216 Teamwork 220
Team & Details
222 Colophon 3
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This is a book about the renovation of the stations on the Amsterdam Metro Oostlijn, which have connected the city centre to the new districts south-east of the city since 1977. After more than thirty years of piecemeal alterations and modifications, it had become clear that the entire line needed a comprehensive renovation.
Amstel
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Amstelveenseweg
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Wibautstraat
For only then would the metro line be able to make a vital contribution to the future of a growing city, where public transport plays an increasingly important role. The stations had been renovated by the end of 2018. Today the Oostlijn and the new North/South Line are a vital part of the Amsterdam metro network: clear, comfortable and contemporary, with respect for historical qualities. [left] Amsterdam Metro Network consists of: Oostlijn (53 and 54), Ring Line (50 and 51) and the North/South Line (52).
The opening of the Metro Oostlijn in the late 1970s marked a revolutionary expansion of the public transport network in Amsterdam. The line offered rapid connections through the city between a series of modern stations built in the brutalist style typical of the period. Thirty years later, the qualities of the original design had faded considerably. Alterations both large and small had undermined the cohesion of the design, steadily reducing passenger comfort and user friendliness even further. Time had caught up with the Metro Oostlijn. The renovation of five underground and eleven above-ground stations changed the situation. On the basis of a coherent strategy, elements such as furniture, lighting, advertising and wayfinding were tackled, and architectural interventions were carried out to bring routing, safety and overall appearance up to the required standard. The original architectural qualities formed the guiding principle in this process. The result is a renewed Oostlijn that both respects the past and embraces the future.
Ten eventful years separated the winning of the tender for the station renovations and the completion of the Metro Oostlijn. During that period the project underwent significant developments: the commission changed and was even put on hold for a while before finally being executed. Working on a major public project like this involves constant consultation and alignment with relevant parties and stakeholders. It is an undertaking of public interest, taking place in the public eye. That means that the media also follows developments critically. Such a project calls for a powerful vision and long-term approach, not to mention an open attitude and a readiness to heed advice and make modifications. The result is a metro line that meets the needs of passengers as well as employees, a line with a strong identity that offers scope for future change, a line with a fresh yet familiar look that blends into the city in a surprisingly self-evident manner. That passenger numbers have increased significantly since the renovation is the best evidence that the most important stakeholder, the passenger, has embraced the Oostlijn. But there has also been recognition from within the profession, with the renovation receiving multiple prizes, among them the NRP Golden Phoenix 2019, the Frame Award 2019 for ‘best governmental interior of the year’, the IF Design Award 2019, the 2ACAA Award 2019, and nominations for the Architectenweb Award for Public Building of the Year 2019, the Amsterdam Architecture Prize 2019, the INSIDE Award 2019 and the European Design Award 2020. This book travels the full length of the Metro Oostlijn renovation:
from past to future, from vision to strategy, from drawing to production, and from sketch to reality. Research, design and building process are the important building blocks that we spotlight in this book. And since a project like this is impossible without teamwork and collaboration, this book is also an ode to all the wonderful partners who have contributed to the Metro Oostlijn, such as Hegeman construction company, De Groot Installation Group, graphic designer RenĂŠ Knip, lighting designer Beersnielsen, the City of Amsterdam, the Municipal Transport Company (GVB), and the passengers themselves. This book tells the story of the renovation of the Metro Oostlijn. But if you really want to discover the qualities of the renewed line, the best thing to do is of course to take the metro and experience it for yourself! We wish you a pleasant journey!
Maarten van Bremen and Maarten Lever / GROUP A & Jeroen van Erp / Fabrique
Introduction
5
In conversation with Nathalie de Vries Catja Edens
Nathalie de Vries is an architect and founding partner of the renowned firm MVRDV, architects of projects like the Markthal in Rotterdam. She also held the position of Chief Railroad Architect from 2005 to 20081. In 2009 she served on the jury for the design tender for the renovation of the Metro Oostlijn stations and then sat on the supervisory committee. We spoke to her about the Metro Oostlijn renovation and the power and beauty of the system. 1
6
Bureau Spoorbouwmeester, set up in 2001 on the initiative of Dutch Railways (NS) and ProRail, offers independent advice about design issues concerning the Dutch rail network.
Metro Oostlijn Amsterdam
“The metro will become a connecting element in every sense, a real work of cultural infrastructure in the city.”
The designers recognized the power of the architecture. ‘Identity was a key issue in renovating the Metro Oostlijn. Should the stations be designed in the corporate style of the Municipal Transport Company (GVB)? Or should they align with the design of public space in Amsterdam so that the stations became extensions of the street? Or should each station have an identity of its own? The tender gave the designers full scope to answer these questions in their proposals. By then it was clear that the planned North/South Line would have its own identity, which made it logical for the Metro Oostlijn to do likewise. A big difference, however, was that the work here didn’t start from scratch. There already was a line with stations. The question was whether those typical 1970s metro stations still had any value for the city. I know that plenty of people at the municipality placed little value on the brutalist architecture of the stations. They would not have shed a tear if all stations had been demolished. But GROUP A and Fabrique decided to take the existing situation as their point of departure and to embrace the brutalist architecture. I thought that was a courageous choice. Not everybody thinks the metro stations are beautiful, but they are carefully designed buildings with a distinctive character. This type of architecture is of value to the city. It encapsulates history, and people have built up a bond with it. It made me think of my time as Chief Railroad Architect, when we decided to analyse all Dutch railway stations. We quickly made a distinction between standard stations, comparable in layout and execution, and special stations with a character of their
own. We classified them in ‘The Collection’, along with the strongest prototypes. These were special station buildings, places that people have fond memories of and that fill them with pride. A metro station, obviously, is not quite the same as a railway station, yet the character of the architecture and the place still plays a role here. The brutalist stations of the Metro Oostlijn had a striking personality, and each of them was really tailored to suit its context. Over the years they had of course changed and deteriorated, but the architecture still possessed a power. The designers recognized this and took it as their starting point in renovating the line. It’s great that this process coincided with a more general reappraisal of brutalist architecture.’ The systematic approach is precisely what makes the Metro Oostlijn renovation so good. ‘GROUP A and Fabrique form an interesting team because they unite architecture and design. GROUP A is skilled in architecture at various scales, with various gradations of public and private. Fabrique has extensive experience in developing public transport systems and amenities for the GVB, Schiphol Airport, Dutch Railways (NS), and De Lijn public transport supplier in Belgium. A systematic, layered approach dovetails perfectly with the dynamic character of public transport. There is the architectural framework of walls, floors and ceilings, and there is the articulation of space with furniture, lighting and services. A closed design that integrates everything seamlessly can create problems later if changes are required. You then have to devise new solutions that, by definition, In conversation with Nathalie de Vries
7
Genesis
A metro line is no isolated object but a living piece of the city and its public space. It would be no exaggeration to claim that a metro line, together with its passengers, reflects the soul of the city. And thus the Oostlijn station renovation is not a separate project, but the result of a series of choices, crises and positive developments that the city of Amsterdam has undergone over a period of forty years. This chapter describes how the Oostlijn reached maturity, from the first ideas for a City Railway in 1963, the construction of the metro lines and the Bijlmermeer in the 1970s, and a number of false dawns for renovation in the early years of the new millennium, to the situation that finally prompted the renovation competition in 2009. Maarten Lever
[top] Congestion in the old city. [bottom] Bijlmermeer, ‘city of the future’.
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Metro Oostlijn Amsterdam
Amsterdam City Railways
Amsterdam doubles in area between 1939 and 1968. New residential districts spring up around the city. At the same time, the municipal government views the centre, which suffers from increasing dilapidation and poverty, through the lens of ‘city development’1. According to this philosophy, the centre is less and less a place to live and more and more a place to work and shop. As car ownership rises rapidly in the 1960s, daily commutes back and forth between the new residential districts on the edge of the city and the centre threaten to make Amsterdam uninhabitable. The radial structure of the city does not help either. The spectre of total gridlock in the heart of the city looms. It is in this climate that plans emerge for the construction of a metro network. [left] The Amsterdam metro network designed by the City Railway Bureau, with the east line marked red.
Plans for tram tunnels through the city centre and to Amsterdam Noord (the part of the city that lies on the north bank of the River IJ) first appeared in 1922. But a new strategy for public transport is now becoming urgent. The City Railway Bureau was set up in 1963 to develop a concrete plan for public transport in the city. This agency recommends constructing eighty kilometres of metro connections in the city, consisting of four lines, including branches. The Oostlijn forms one (or actually one and a half) of these lines, and the proposal is to construct this line first, in tandem with the Bijlmermeer, a new district to the south-east of the city. This advice provokes a lot of debate. Is a historical city like Amsterdam suitable for metro lines? Why not start with the central connection, right through the centre and extending to Noord, which has been discussed for decades? Alternative plans are presented as counter-reactions, among them the ‘Amtroplan’, a sort of pre-metro2, as still exists in Brussels and other cities. But the City Railway Bureau tears these counter-proposals to shreds one by one and succeeds in convincing the city council of its plan. A decision in principle is taken in 1968, and construction of the eighteen-kilometre-long Oostlijn gets the go-ahead in 1970. To somewhat overcome the objections, it is also decided to start preparatory work on the North/South Line. Five years later, in 1975, work on the metro network by the City Railway Bureau is brought to a complete halt. The 1973 oil crisis has cast clouds on the economic prospects. Moreover, ideas about the city, about ‘city development’ and
appreciation of living in the city centre have changed radically. The demolition required for the construction of the metro lines in the centre has become a taboo issue. And with it, so too has the word ‘metro’. Even so, construction of the Oostlijn has by then been in progress for quite some time. This line becomes the first and, for the time being, only part of the extensive system for a City Rail Network that has actually been completed. Emphasis shifts to the tram. Only much later do parts of the original City Rail Network surface again, such as the Amstelveen Line (a ‘fast tram’) and the Ring Line. The North/South Line, preparations for which also started in 1970, will have to wait another 43 years. By then, far into the twenty-first century, the Oostlijn is wellestablished and has already undergone its first large-scale renovation, which is the subject of this book.
1
2
City development is a process in which housing in city centres makes way for economic functions such as office buildings, department stores, government agencies and cultural institutions. In addition, old small-scale architecture disappears, and infrastructure is allowed full scope to develop. A well-known example is the City of London, after which the process is named. A pre-metro is a tram line that runs fully or partially through underground tunnels. These tunnel sections and stations, usually located in the city centre, are constructed in such a way that the infrastructure can later be converted into a full-fledged metro line. Genesis
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The design of the Oostlijn – the struggle of architects Spängberg and Van Rhijn
In the lead-up to the decision to construct the metro, the Oostlijn is mostly discussed as a statistical solution to the transport problems in Amsterdam. The City Railway Bureau has calculated exactly how many passengers a metro can carry, the width of the platforms, the route the metro should take, the distance between two stations, the frequency at which the metros travel, and so on. Little attention has been given to the spatial impact of the metro or its relationship with the city, even though the new line runs right through the city. It crosses dams, shares stations with Dutch Railways, intersects tunnels, travels along dikes and over tall viaducts. The line also runs beneath proposed main roads, through neighbourhoods that don’t exist yet, and under districts more than four hundred years old. Moreover, Amsterdam has absolutely no experience with metro lines. The motley assortment of municipal departments involved in this enormous operation is populated by technicians and engineers. This is the context in which architect Ben Spängberg is invited by the city to design the Oostlijn. He realizes that the job is too big for one architect alone and proposes to involve his friend and former colleague Sier van Rhijn in the commission. When the decision to construct the metro line is taken in 1968, Spängberg and Van Rhijn are 39 and 42 years old. The architects have similar ideas about the meaning and function of architecture in the world. Their approach is holistic. Spängberg expresses it in 1980 thus: ‘Our raw material — I’m putting it a little symbolically now — is the universe, that vast space, which is totally imperceptible to people’1. Architecture is the challenge to put that vast space into perspective, to detail it, to create a coherent ensemble of spaces and scales to which people can relate, where people feel good. They go to great extremes with this approach. The architects, therefore, do not see the 14
Metro Oostlijn Amsterdam
commission as simply a matter of wrapping something in a decorative layer. Instead, they want to influence and shape the essence of the stations. This provokes resistance within the metro bureaucracy. ‘The technocracy possesses nothing but technical qualities,’ the architects later explain. ‘The concrete must be good and the escalators have to function perfectly.’ The experts dismiss everything else as rubbish. That attitude leads to constant disputes, big and small, in which Spängberg and Van Rhijn repeatedly question assumptions. The twin viaduct in the new Bijlmermeer district, also called Bijlmer, is, in this light, their most notable victory over the ‘technocrats’2, but the architects have to battle for their ideas about form and design at all scales. They translate their holistic approach to the meaning of architecture into an all-encompassing design for the Oostlijn. [top right] An underground station, with the distinctive mushroom-shaped columns. [right] An above-ground station, of the ‘Sphinx’ model. [utmost right] The iconic twin viaduct in the Bijlmermeer.
In 1980 the architects win the Amsterdam Merkelbach Prize and in 1981 the Concrete Prize. The design by Spängberg and Van Rhijn is strong, with plenty of concrete and oversized structures. But just as the debate about the metro itself is polarized, reaction to the architecture of the Oostlijn also tends towards the extremes. A series of war bunkers, an ‘Atlantic Wall’, is how one critic sums up the comments3. And writer Gerrit Komrij describes the Oostlijn ‘a labyrinthine crypt … a kind of aperitif before the main meal of mould and vitriol’: the Bijlmermeer4.
1 H. de Haan and I. Haagsma (1980) De Amsterdamse Metro als structurele stadsvernieuwing. De Architect, number 11, p. 106-111 2 Between Ganzenhoef and Kraaiennest stations, the metro would not run along a dike but be supported on columns. Spängberg and Van Rhijn strongly advocated building the tracks not together on one but on two viaducts: a ‘twin viaduct’. The metro structure is thus made to look more transparent, the tracks appear to ‘float’ and, because daylight penetrates between the tracks to the ground, vegetation on the ground extends beneath the metro uninterrupted. 3 Berend Boudewijn, Het Parool, 15 February 1980 4 Gerrit Komrij, Het boze oog, Amsterdam 1991, p. 60 Genesis
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A vision for the future
A new design for the Metro Oostlijn calls for a vision that respects the past yet looks to the future. To shed more light on the design for the renovation of the Metro Oostlijn, the previous chapter Genesis deconstructed the original design to discover its DNA. Together with a vision for the future of the line, with 2040 taken as point on the horizon, this constituted the new DNA used to renovate the 16 stations. This DNA is expressed in six design principles that guided this project — in every document, every presentation, every decision — from start to finish. Jeroen van Erp & Maarten van Bremen
From assignment to vision Renovating the stations of the Metro Oostlijn was not a priority in Amsterdam for a long time. The clutter that had accumulated in the metro was taken for granted, the lack of public safety justified, scant attention paid to maintenance, and changing passenger needs ignored. It was all, apparently, nobody’s problem. But as passenger numbers continued to grow and plans for a series of imposing stations on the new North/South Line gained momentum, there came a realization that the outdated Oostlijn was due an overhaul — something that passengers had known for quite some time. After all, together with the Ring Line, the Amstelveen Line and the new North/South Line, the line to the east formed part of the capital’s metro system and, accordingly, needed to offer comfort and quality. The Bijlmer Arena, Ganzenhoef and Kraaiennest stations had in previous years already been demolished and rebuilt individually, each with its own style of architecture. Station Amstel and Duivendrecht, where both trains and metros stop, remained unchanged. Some sixteen stations were therefore set for renovation: from Central Station to Gaasperplas and Gein. The initial objective was to carry out major maintenance, thereby improving the safety, comfort and capacity of some stations. Moreover, the original design by Ben Spängberg and Sier van Rhijn, working at the time for the Department of Public Works of the City of Amsterdam, had to be respected. [left] Central Station shortly after the opening. [right] Interior of Spaklerweg Station before renovation.
“The original architecture and layout of the Metro Oostlijn are very distinctive. They contribute significantly to the unity, identity and quality of the metro. The task for the architect charged with the renovation is to bring these basic qualities into the 21st century and align them with the wishes of today.” Call for a design vision, 28 April 2009. A vision for the future
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Approach It was tempting to build on the brutalist features of the original design. Deconstructing this design, however, revealed the underlying intentions and offered genuine insight. Spängberg and Van Rhijn had designed the Oostlijn as a way of bringing the Bijlmer district and the city centre closer together. With this in mind, the choice of concrete, the ‘common man’s material’, was not only practical and stylistic, but also symbolic. Besides the widespread use of exposed ‘in-situ’ concrete and concrete blocks, the distinguishing feature of brutalist architecture is its over-dimensioning. This finds expression in the height of station entrances on the streets and the monumentality of the raised double metro viaduct in the Bijlmermeer. Brutalist overdimensioning is less evident in the underground tunnels and stations, where the chosen method of construction, using caissons (submersible tunnel elements), imposed height restrictions. Another important characteristic of the original design was the functional deployment of colour. The idea was to take the original design intentions as the point of departure for the renovation. Sustainability was another important consideration. The stations had to be future-proof in terms of wear and tear, and atmosphere and appearance. The use of sustainable materials was also a stipulation. Tracing back from the 30
Metro Oostlijn Amsterdam
future perspective for 2040 to today informed the development of a design vision based on improving public safety, comfort, mainte nance and identity. The look ahead to 2040 was fuelled by insight into all the changes that had taken place since the 1970s when the metro was constructed. During this period, maintenance budgets dropped significantly, new advertising techniques appeared, commercial spaces were added, and all sorts of technological changes and improvements made. Moreover, passengers had over time become more demanding: they wanted to feel safe, to have a good overview, and to know exactly when their metro would reach its destination. All this input, together with the ever-relevant DNA, led to an updated DNA for the Metro Oostlijn, which formed the basis for the new design. That looks like this in the diagram on the right. In 1977, Spängberg and Van Rhijn stated: “The design must be socially relevant and give something back to the city”. In 2009, GROUP A and Fabrique stated: ‘The design must be based on the existing DNA, be socially relevant and give something back to the city.’ The new approach would give the whole design team a solid basis for the delicate balancing act between maintaining existing qualities and preparing for the future.
2040
DNA
the original design
+ fresh DNA
the renewed design
[above] Station renovation design principle: use existing DNA.
One main principle One main principle started to crystallize as early as the competition phase. The designers were convinced that passenger numbers would continue to rise to levels that Spängberg and Van Rhijn could never have imagined possible. In line with this, GROUP A and Fabrique formulated new intentions. Of great importance were smart, collective and technical solutions for old problems. The new design had to provide comfort and be as transparent and well-thought-out as possible. The focus was the end-user. Concerns about public safety on the metro were also important. The many nooks and crannies not only made it difficult to clean the stations but also made passengers feel unsafe. The project had to eliminate all the reasons for this. That’s why the central theme of ‘flow’ was embraced from an early stage. Flow focuses on facilitating smooth passenger flows in a self-evident, smart, attentive and easy manner. The principle of flow emphasizes accessibility and hospitality with a design that conforms to the space and makes the most of its possibilities. Flow is aimed at innovation and moving towards the future in a logical way. This main theme provided the basis for the new overall design and pointed the way towards an integral approach, a self-evident consequence of the collaboration between GROUP A and Fabrique. The theme
Before
After
of flow was translated into a series of design principles: from spatial interventions to lines of light, from stair handrails to playful tile tableaux. Flow led naturally to such principles as openness and transparency. It prompted the decision to thoroughly tackle the street-level entrance structures on Wibautstraat so that light could penetrate ‘practically down to the platforms’. As a result, the entrances are more open and safer, and the metro system has a stronger presence on the street. More flow was literally created below ground by eliminating protruding walls and niches.
“Our aim is to create modern metro stations that function adequately, are clearly organized and are pleasant to use. And to achieve this without ignoring or damaging the brutalist DNA of the metro line. Instead, we build on it.” Presentation of Renovation and Design Vision, July 2009.
A vision for the future
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Centraal Station
Creating flow
Flow was the central theme of the design vision developed for the renovation in 2009, and it determined all the chosen principles and solutions. Flow ensures stations that are safer and better organized, that are easier to maintain and to keep clean. It ensures stations where passengers feel welcome and find their way naturally. This chapter presents the situations before and after renovation side by side. They show the principle of flow at work and render its effects visible. Maarten van Bremen & Maarten Lever
Centraal Station
The whitish-yellow anti-graffiti coating was stripped from the raw concrete. The concrete was then covered with a transparent anti-graffiti coating and illuminated to enhance the sense of space. The light is reflected in the polished floor. To complement the cleaned concrete, new high-quality materials have been added, such as iridescent tiles on the platform walls and hardwood for the handrails and benches.
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Metro Oostlijn Amsterdam
CS
Nieuwmarkt
At the Zuiderkerkhof the lift entrance and stairs were pulled apart in such a way that passengers got separated from one another. Replacing the rear wall of the entrance to the stairs with glass and opening a void beside the lift created a greater sense of transparency and clarity at the station. The sawn-open lift shaft and void allow daylight to penetrate down to the concourse. This helps passengers to orientate them selves. Curves in the tiled wall guide them from the platform to the exit and vice versa.
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NMT