Delft Project 2

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H w u e i N C rea t ed b y D a n i e l Pe t e r Rada i Sup ervi sed b y L e o v a n de n Bur g Q2 A R 1U 1 0 0 R& D S t u d i o : Soci o- Sp a ti al Pr ocesses i n the City D elf t , 22. 01 . 2 0 1 3

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Introduction Introduction 03 Question 05

Analysis Large scale 07 Medium scale 08 Small scale 09

Design Program 14 Phase I. 15 Phase III. 17 Phase II. 18 Nieuw Hofplein 19 Atmosphere 25

Table of contents

New Hofplein 2

Introduction During the second quarter of the autumn semester the city given for exploration is Rotterdam. The main target location is the northern part of the city consisting mainly the Bergpolder and Ageniesebuurt neighbourhoods. The southern part was heavily affected during the German bombings in World War 2 and the reconstruction was driven by modernist, high-rise aims implementing the existing layout.

The most outstanding object or monument that represents the area must be the elevated track of the late Hoflpleinlijn. In 2006, after the last Randstad Rail train left, it became unused. Since then, many attempts have been made to transform towards the benefit of the public, however, neither of them turned out to be suitable for the long future. Even though, the - building - structure itself is used for various public and private functions on the street level.

In my personal project, I work with the southern area, the main station (Hofplein st.), even so, my goal is not to create something detailed on top of the building, instead to fit it in the surrounding environment by function and design.

The Centraal entry as the border of the Noord with the Schiekade. View from the Luchtsingel.

Socio-spatial process The studio’s topic is ‘socio-spatial processes in the city’. Although, it was fairly unclear - for most of us in the beginning of the work - the exact meaning of this term, it soon started to suit me well. The task is how to take urban design steps onto the human scale - human level, which I welcome as my main goal in the beginning of the process was to work small scale, preferably improving the exact environment of any inhabitant.

The emphasis is on the people, sustainability and possible financial feasibility targetting a better city life. Using this, personally, I want to use the people’s wishes, opinions, interests, habits in transforming any place. The goal is to create something entirely for the residents or commuters, or maybe inhabitants of farther parts of Rotterdam creating something that worth to visit.

Border from the north. The Gordelweg.

Make use of any space.

Eastern border. The beautiful look of the Noordsingel.

Memory from the prime of Modernism.

Site visit During the first visit on field, our task was to examine the whole area as it was from south to north, from east to west. We were looking for all details that could be used later identifying the district, and possible conflicts we could work on later. In overall, the whole place made a fairly good impression on us, although, one could easily divide the Bergpolder and Ageniesebuurt neighbourhoods by their urban quality.

The view of the southern part showed more opportunities with its (lack of) quality and context. The train track on all its length, on the other hand, remained an interesting target for interventions respectively towards its surroundings and possible connections. In the end, most of the others chose the Hofbogen to work with.

However for me, I almost had my issue from first sight.

intro

Western border, Schieweg.

Ageniesebuurt.

Colouring the place.

Hofplein station area.

Hofbogen and surroundings.

Children’s view.

Public garden in the north.

Entry of the Luchtsingel.

Autumn.

Acer saccharicum vs. Populus nigra.

Awareness.

Various local extra inhabitants.

Urban design?

Urban greening.

Urban surprises.

New Hofplein 4

Problem question

Pictures in the left showcasing some conflicts, such as the user’s lack of awareness towards their environment.

During the site visit, approaching the design area we crossed the Schiekade on the Luchtsingel, and went under the office building through the petrol station. The environment did not please us at all. Then we went under the train tracks and arrived in front of the Mini Mall. Something did not make me feel relaxed. The four of us was on the field but still no special feeling, even more, atmosphere, could have been located.

Also the condition of the built materials is concerning. These concrete cubes are the only sitting possibilities outside in all 3 different spaces, east and west of the station and south of the main track.

We continued our site visit and a few hours later arrived at the corner of the Schiekade and the Heer Bokelweg. I felt that in spite of their various smaller disadvantaged parts and signs of significant improvement possibilities, the Agniesebuurt and the Bergpolder was in overall a generally good area.

However, arriving back to the main ‘entry environment’ namely the west of the station building, this time I felt that I was leaving the whole sight with an uncomfortable feeling just as the beginning.

Therefore, the question I had studied before the early presentation had been coming from absolutely subjective experiences.

In a wide spread green field such as the area east of the station, the primary public space users are basically the dogs.

Do the surroundings of the (sometime) Hofplein station form a square?

Is it a welcoming space?

4 types of pavement

Atmosphere

Looking for the answers

At first, despite of my thoughts, I wanted to know whether the inhabitants and commuters feel the same way. Is there any point working with the area, or are they just totally neutral or unconcerned about it?

The social-spatial process, or let’s say - how I myself would interpret it - the human based designing has the public space as its first layer. This is where the inhabitants, the city users first meet our work, so to speak the outcome of any planning issues.

I managed to talk with 20 people on the field. The evaluation of their answers on the test can be found below. During our chat, to the questions I asked them, these were the most relevant and interesting answers.

By the present days, the urban environment (especially in the developped world) is heavily occupied by car traffic and therefore, the public spaces cannot meet their functions in many cases. I particularly like Jan Gehl, Danish urbanist’s thinking. He groups the cities into 4 types by the relationship between public spaces and car impact.

Do you like going through the area? Is it a nice place to start/end the day with?

‘Yes, but because it’s my neighbourhood.’

‘It’s not a really nice place, not inspiring, sad and old.’

‘Daytime=it’s ok.’

‘Not the most exciting space I have ever been.’

‘Nobody owns it. People are not connected to it. No sign of it belonging to anyone/anywhere...’

‘No, it is not.

‘It’s ok, not the ugliest, but not much to look at.’

Do you consider it as a welcoming place?

‘Not really, a lot of vogue people around.’

‘No, because of the feeling of nobody owns this area.’

‘It is my home...’

‘Not that bad either.’

‘Neutral.’

‘No, it’s not welcoming for me.’

My target area would have fit in perfectly to the ‘Invaded city’ group once. By now, it shows the characteristics of the ‘Abandoned city’ as well. (Gehl, J., Gemzoe, L., 2001 Public spaces, public life, The Danish Architectural Press) It had to be uncomfortable to be a pedestrian in the square west of the station before the closure of the train station in 2006. During recent years, without the train it has become quite abandoned in most parts of the day except of the rush hours.

The aim is to be able to talk about the square in the context of Gehl’s ‘Reconquered city’ category. But as asked earlier, it is actually questionable, whether it is a square. A good public square should be able let people flow towards any wished directions without restrictions. It gives opportunity to the ones who want to rest, to occasional public events. Even bigger-scale gatherings shall be able to happen on it (such as, markets, small festivals, expositions, events, and even activities concerning free speech - historical aspect). Last but not least, it has clear borders and a true identity. Basically, the east of the train station meets one requirement, it has quite clear borders. Functionally the place lacks of possibilities, it does not have neither a name nor a coherent design forming the lack of identity.

Do the surroundings of the (once) Hofplein station form a square?

‘More plants and new buildings/infrastructure could cheer it up.’

‘Green areas would be nice.’

People (the ones who stopped) were not neutral at all. In contrary to what answers were given to the test (more positive than expected), they were more critic and negative in person. Some of them accept the place the way it is because it is considered to be their home. Some others just did not find it interesting at all. The most exciting answer were given by a young lady who enrols an urban studies programme in Rotterdam, as she pointed out the lack of ownership and belonging of the place.

In overall, people do seek a change.

1 2 3 4 5

1 11 12 13 14 15

friendly calm silent exciting comfortable colourful li ing ne clean full organised a y beautiful good ins iring

rude busy noisy boring uncomfortable grey dead old dirty em ty unorganised sad ugly bad disa ointing

* answers collecte around the Schiekade

1 2 3 4 5

1 11 12 13 14 15

friendly calm silent exciting comfortable colourful li ing ne clean full organised a y beautiful good ins iring

rude busy noisy boring uncomfortable grey dead old dirty em ty unorganised sad ugly bad disa ointing

NO A welcoming space is usually located on the border of a wider area either by size or location where usually one arrives. Therefore this place provides with a first impression that later can define the experience of the target location. This can be the entrance of an apartment as well as a square in the corner of a quarter. It shall provide a cosy atmosphere by design and certainly suits well its functions. A good welcoming are may have a strong identity. In the city context, a welcoming space meets some meeting point requirements also (sitting opportunities, eating/drinking, etc.).

Can the place be considered as a welcoming space?

Functionally Aesthetically

YES NO

, in terms it is located in a border and cannot be avoided.

as it does not provide other traits.

Given also the commuters and local residents opinion, I was eager to work on possible solutions solving the conflicts. As it turned out the municipality of Rotterdam and my aims lead towards the same direction by the existing vision of improving the city’s public spaces.

* answers collecte around Rampoortstraat New Hofplein 6

analysis

Large scale These two maps covers 2 main research categories. Up can be seen the location of Rotterdam North compared to the city centre. All the main roads of Rotterdam are shown, thus it becomes clear that the target area lays just outside the centre. These gives a tremendous opportunity in terms of transportation and accessibility.

On the right image can we see the green network of the biggest city of the Netherlands. Rotterdam is said to be the country’s greenest city, at least compared to the bigger ones. However, the centre seems to be less natural.

The significant amount of green shapes are created by the tree lines bordering the roads and streets. On the street level, real green zones can be found mostly around the bigger canals.

Medium scale Going deeper with the earlier discovered location opportunities. The top left picture provides information of the distance of public transport stops. The Hofplein is approximately 5 minutes away by feet from the design place, which can be called a comfortable distance. What is more, the Centraal is only 600 metres far. This means that 2 of Rotterdam’s main junction points are very close and can be comfortably reached also by feet.

r= 500 m

From the function graphics in the top right corner, we can learn that around the ‘square’ the dominant occupants of the buildings are eduction institutions and offices. Talking about urban developments and public spaces, this comes very handy as the workers and students with strong local interest but as ‘non-residents’ are the main target group.

The picture in the left shows a circle around the ‘square’ with a radius of 500 metres.

People in and around this circle will define the success of the project.

By this point I decided for sure that I would work with the spaces around the station and went towards more detailed information

New Hofplein 8

1 9 3 3 1 9 3 9 1 9 4 7 1 9 6 3 1 9 8 1

In the early ‘30s, the station and surroundings functioned as a centre and the whole are shows a coherent look.

The old train station is at its prime.

In the gate of the war everything seems to be normal still

The German bombs had quite a huge impact on the area. While most of the buildings burnt down as a result including the station, it’s structure remained. By 1953 a new modernist station by the plans of Sybold van Ravesteyn was created. The rails from the Centraal did not go through the building of the Hofplein station anymore.1947

Small scale

move

Her Bokelweg

NOW

One of the first ‘modern’ buildings to be constructed was the now Heer Bokker College back then as the Technikon. The area loses its coherent 19th century face as high-rise buildings are started to be built instead of the memories of the ‘Dutch Golden Age’.

By 1981 the area around the train station looks almost as it does today.

Both the Graphysh Lyceum and the office buildings north of the Hofplein can be found. It can be acknowledged that the basic layout has not changed for almost 30 years.

pedestrian

NOW

tramway

main pedestrian ways

traffic lanes [car]

missing ways

bicycle

questionable way

railway buildings

Rampoortstraat

* caotic junction * Rampoortstraat - less significant ‘service road’

* uncomfortable junction * missing public space ‘use’ * Rampoortstraat - rational but inconvinient way

Schiekade

is it possible to implement a roundabout?

Reflecting ‘brother’ roundabouts. not enough space.

Heavy traffic on the Schiekade lights are needed.

Roundabout would still not make crossings simple for the cyclists & pedestrians In the beginning I wanted to create a new lamp-free roundabout instead of the currently slightly chaotic junction. However, looking at shapes and considering common sense, this process just do not seem to be feasible and by measurements, it looks to be quite affirmative.

green

NOW

The height relations and the various directions of the flowing storm-water. It is clear that the direction of the slopes have to be changed in order to be able to keep the water in the soft surfaces.

luchtsingel

NOW

green spaces

existing bridge

trees

planned bridge possible bridge

* incoherent and poorly maintained green spaces * good tree ‘infrastructure’

* potential alternatives are not prefered

* ‘green tram rails’

* luchtsingel project makes sense, still unsuccessful - the environment? * let’s finish or ‘ground-level’ solutions?

New Hofplein 10

J a n u a r y

12.00-13.00

16.00-17.00

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09.00

p r i l J u l y O c t o b e r

Strengths Distance of Hofplein and Centraal - public transport Number of commuters - interest Office neighborhoods around Lack of public spaces around Southern orientation - Sun

Weaknesses Urban layout - lack of planning State of the place Lack of people’s interest towards their environment ‘No owner’ Green elements in bad condition No real connection with the elements and surroundings Water management Train line...

Opportunities Human interest Impact on the people New green Hofbogen line Urban transformations Storm water management ‘Place Concorde’

Threats Lack of interest Train station connection failure Financial boundaries

SWOT On the left page there is an analysis about the shading caused by the high rise buildings north of the Hofplein. Thanks to the southern orientation of the square, it is quite sunny during all year except of winter.

In the top, the graphic shows a brief summary on the location of the conflicts I collected and tried to fix.

New Hofplein 12

design

Program Parking moves to the south of the rails Car-free area except the entrance to parking garage South is becoming designed and greener Connection under the rails stays Connection with the station building - function?

Mini Mall stays and remains in its glory + additions No more petrol station, however just moving towards the garage Green bridge from the train station - maybe future ‘Place Concorde’ . extra floors for the sports building - new ICON

market storage Community Development Facilities

MINI MALL 2

Phasing design green

lunch break Hofbogen

pedestrian transport

commuter

welcoming

safety

urban park cycling

sustainability exposition

relax events

connections storm water recreation icons

identity

phasing

urban agriculture people interventions

As I mentioned earlier I had wanted to work on smaller scale originally.

This view modified a little later. On the other hand I kept my short-term goals and only wanted to add different scales with different phasing.

The small scale issues were about to be local and direct urban interventions, art products, little design assignments. The middle would have been a more detailed landscape architectural plan for the main square.

For scale/phase no. 3 I would have given some long-term strategic suggestions.

What happened in practice is that during the designing process and solving the problems - answering the questions I started to look out of the space east of the train station and found myself working on connections, mobility, etc. in a much wider urban context. The 3 phases were put together into one vision.

The Mini Mall as an important part of the future. Not only because of the way it is integrated to the whole design with its roof, but also by the functions given to the street level, aiming to attract even more people.

On the other hand by the time I arrived to the ending the scales divided again and now I can talk about different phases one more time. What is more, that even the now 3 connected places can be implemented separately, even so, not making together the two sides of the train line would not make sense, for example.

Let’s see some examples of small scale interventions that could improve the atmosphere and help the users feel more comfortable and sometime simply more positive on the ‘square’.

public New Hofplein 14

Small scale - Phase I. The opportunities are countless. Here are a few.

Lights transmitted to the ground at ‘entrances’ - tunnel entries - of the place as welcoming or goodbye signs.

Covering an ugly wall with climbing plants may sound simple (and with some species a surprisingly fast improvement is possible) but can be very effective and rewarding.

A map placed on the ground can take out feelings from the residents towards their home/working place they have never thought about. They can see the area from a completely different perspective.

Using wall painting to change existing messages could be also interesting. Especially on a location where awareness towards the environment has to be improved.

‘small scale’

New Hofplein 16

The Skyscraper Icon - Phase III. As part of the strategical vision, the David Lloyd building shall grow to double its existing size. The aim of this suggestion is that this way it could become the icon of the square. Also it would have a strategical role, as it is visible from basically even from the Maas, it could attract curious visitors to the place.

Functionally the building would be like the Obelisque at Place Concorde in the end of the Avenue Champs Elysées in Paris, or the Heroes square in Budapest. Both squares and their monuments give a clear end to the main axis roads of the cities.

Obviously, I do not want to compare the significance and importance of this location to the mentioned two above, but still functionally I find a similar urban situation to be possible.

(Green wall originally designed by Patrick Blanc.)

Phase II. - Creating the square On the right, there are images giving an overview on the designing process of the station are. I was wondering whether to erase the Heer Bokelweg College creating a bigger and more coherent square. Also, I was thinking of how to involve the station in the changes.

In the end, I decided to keep the school building (fitting the smaller-scale-intervention goals). A reason for that was also that I did not find it a forward looking idea to build up the open space east of the station. As the eastern space was remaining, I could have looked for the integration of the station building into its environment.

‘large scale’

N

N

N

‘medium scale’

New Hofplein 18

Places By the end of the process a new square is supposed to born.

And not even only on the original area, but connecting 3 different ones divided by significant borders both functionally and visually. The main connection points between north and south remain to be the two passages under the main track.

Two new stairs open from both sides to the roof of the station building and there will be a connecting line between west and east in the 8th arc of the station from the south. The glass roof would make sure that enough lights can get in, while for the night it could be closed to prevent unwanted activities.

The three main open spaces have different functions. The main square, from now on called the Nieuw Hofplein, would be a comfortable space for commuters but also a meeting point. The name represents its function as taking over the area as the main square that actually provides (unlike the Hofplein) the desired functions and environment.

The old abandoned green space is given back to the residents again mostly targetting recreational activities, such as, football, basketball, and even a 320-metre-long running track can be found on it. A modern playground suits the young families’ needs.

The south of the train line turns into a pedestrian commuting area. The cars can access it until the parking building where the relocated petrol station is found. Compensating the lost places a new parking lot for 40 cars is built parallel to the Pompenburg.

Core functions/places

Pedestrian ways The right picture shows the remaining and additional pedestrian ways. In the end every direction becomes a possibility with the least restrictions.

Design test

The final design stayed in existence after I tested some different proposals in perspective view and also showed the results to various ‘possible users’.

It is interesting how a fancy layout does not necessarily will be the best idea in reality - ‘eye level’.

Nieuw Hofplein existing tree new tree perennials grass raised perennials solid pavement recreational fields buildings parking bicycle track community garden stairs glass roof

N

1:2000

New Hofplein 20

deciduous tree

mostly deciduous perennial

evergreen perennial

solid pavement

stairs, solid concrete pavement

south N

1:2000

deciduous tree

mostly deciduous perennial

grass

solid pavement

stairs, solid concrete pavement

benches

north N

1:2000

New Hofplein 22

section west to east 1:1000

section north to south 1:1000

design details

meeting point of New Hofplein

* softscape: approx. 13.000 m2

* hardscape: approx. 23.000 m2 (~805.000 Euro)

Despite of the existing Rotterdam Stijl guidelines, I took the freedom to come up with furnitures I felt more suitable creating the identity of the place. The Stijl objects could fit in certainly, but these are part of the proposal.

The furnitures’ shape is heavily based on the path of the Schieweg.

LED lights

Semmelrock Umbriano paving - fits well to my notion of a light grey paving

Populus x nigra ‘Italica’

Aesculus x hippocastanum

Acer saccharicum

Acer platanoides Gingko biloba

New Hofplein 24

view of New Hofplein from the big junction

view towards the passage, south of the train track

view of the meeting point of New Hofplein in front of the Mini Mall

New Hofplein 26

Flashback In conclusion, Q2 has been a great experience and I feel it fit well into my professional development in several ways.

The fact that we worked alone was some times fairly hard, as well as quite easy some others. It was very interesting to see how culturally and otherwise diverse individuals approached and tackled the same core problem from different directions and came up with various solutions.

As far as my own approach is concerned, I was moving backward and forward with my project. I believe that a design is never ready (and I feel that way in this case especially), but in the end I hope that I have managed to answer my own questions and the interpretation about my intentions is clear. I have been able to explore new design methods and processes once again which I would like to continue applying in thenear future, too.

New Hofplein 28

Danie l Pe te r R adai Q 2 AR1U 100 R & D Studio , R o tte rdam

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