3 minute read
Article: Hajo Schilderpoort
INTERVIEW TITEL BOEIENDE BINNENSTAD
The inner city of Eindhoven has seen a lot of construction and renewal in the past years. What makes it relatively unique in the country is the fact that it has seen highrise development. Normally, this will be restricted to peripheral locations, but Eindhoven, together with Rotterdam breaks this tradition. Examples are the Vesteda-tower, built in 2006, and the more recent Student Hotel tower next to the train station.
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These developments also fall within the ‘Verdichtingsvisie’, or densification vision. Supervisor of city development and renowned architect Winy Maas is one of the main proprietors of this strategy. It increases the quality of the city on multiple fronts and has therefore been maintained since 2008. An interesting development that helps in the realization of this high-rise vision is the Bouwhub. This is a location close to the city center from which a large portion of logistic practices for multiple projects are taken care of: it will help to tune plans to each other’s needs and reduce congestion and pollution in the city center. One of the streets where the issue of congestion became very problematic was the Vestdijk. It is one of the most well-known streets in Eindhoven, but before the start of its renewal two years ago most people would not describe the street as being attractive. It was cramped with three traffic lanes and thus caused a lot of air and sound pollution. Clearly, renewal was necessary, and the municipality started rebuilding the street two years ago.
In order to get a better idea of what developments are taking place, and to become more acquainted with future developments, we spoke to Victor Wijdeveld, an enthusiastic junior project manager at the department of project development. After completing his study in the city of Amsterdam, he strived to work in a city that had a high emphasis on innovation and saw things from an open-minded perspective. Eindhoven suited this vision very well, and Victor is now highly involved in the renewal project ‘Boeiende Binnenstad’. It focuses on visually, as well as practically updating the city center on street level. The current
outdated pavement is slippery during rainy days and generates a lot of problems with drainage. According to Victor, the municipality thought that this pavement did not fit their modern, innovative image of the city, and that an update would be suitable.
Some have seen the patches of ‘test-pavement’ in the city center. These were laid out to give inhabitants a taste of what might be in store, and to test the different options on durability and aesthetics. The team responsible for the project has also gone on research trips to Germany to research how similar tiles weather over time and how practical they are. If they prove to be satisfactory, they will also be integrated in the city center of Eindhoven. “These styles of tile were chosen as an homage to the industrial, ‘rough-edged’, character of the city” says Victor. “We think that the traditional historic ‘sett’ type stones are not suitable for the city, since they are generally associated with historic towns”. The plan also sees the implementation of a lot of greenery on street level. Besides being aesthetically pleasing, it additionally allows for better rainwater drainage. This is necessary because puddles of water often form on the current pavement, creating a dangerous and messy atmosphere.
All in all, the overhauling of the city center is a process that is still taking place. Besides the projects physically being completed, there are a lot of other interesting developments happening out of sight. The Vestdijk is only a small part of a much larger plan, and it will be exciting to keep an eye on further developments in the city. We can at least be sure that Eindhoven is moving towards a very interesting identity, and that there are a lot of people working very hard to make this as attractive of a place as possible.
We would like to thank Victor for his time and his enthusiastic insights in the developments in the city, and hope that we will enjoy and reek the benefits of all these new developments.
Pictures:
[Picture left]. (n.d.). Straatbeeld nieuwe Vestdijk. Retrieved from https:// www.eindhoven.nl/sites/default/files/styles/colorbox_large_1x/public/2020-06/Vestdijk%20Vesteda%20%28juni%202020%2C%20JdP%29. jpg?itok=3lIBTvdk
[Picture right] (n.d.). Impression of renewed Demer street. Retrieved from https://www.eindhoven.nl/sites/default/files/styles/body_medium_2x/ public/2019-10/Visual%20proefbestrating%20Demer%20%28DEF%29%20 006_Demer_View_Background_20181009%20Lzkl%20%282%29.jpg?itok=1Z73amVQ
