After the completion of the residential units, the final touches are being put on the surrounding landscape, the BunkerPark. The BunkerTower, with its park in the heart of Eindhoven, is gradually opening up to the city and its residents. The monumental Bunker by Huig Maaskant has been thoroughly renovated and expanded with an impressive residential tower and a green, climate-adaptive park. For many years, the Bunker was the bustling center of student life in Eindhoven. With the renovation, this place is getting a second life: the BunkerTower and the surrounding BunkerPark are giving a new boost to the neighbourhood and the city.
From brutalist colossus to inviting residential building in a green environment: BunkerTower and its BunkerPark in Eindhoven.
“With the BunkerTower and the accompanying park, we demonstrate that it is possible to significantly green an urban location and make it climate-adaptive, while simultaneously addressing the major housing challenge.” Steven Delva, DELVA Landscape Architecture & Urbanism
With the Bunker Tower and the accompanying park, we demonstrate that it is possible to significantly green an urban location and make it climate-adaptive, while simultaneously addressing the major housing challenge. The BunkerPark is an important element in the design and strengthens the three green axes that characterise the city of Eindhoven. DELVA has transformed the existing parking facility into a spacious public park, which benefits the liveability of the building and the surrounding neighbourhood. The visual language of the BunkerTower continues into the park, for example, in the design of the benches. The greenery around (and on) the building serves as a water buffer and simultaneously contributes to biodiversity, through the use of native plants and trees.
The immediate surroundings of the BunkerTower consisted of a parking lot. In addition to adding a lot of new residential space to the city, DELVA’s design ensures that the outdoor space is significantly greened. A park is being created to generate quality of life at ground level. The park is not just for the residents of the BunkerTower but will be a park for the surrounding area, for people from the neighbourhood. This way, existing residents of the neighbourhood gain a park, and we give the new residents of the BunkerTower the feeling of truly living in Eindhoven’s green-blue structure.
The park enhances greenery by building on the existing quality of the greenery, the existing trees, and the characteristics of the Dommel Valley. Around 20-23,000 perennial plants are being added, and the park alone will have more than 50 – mostly native – new trees.
Climate-adaptive and nature-inclusive park.
Rainwater is collected on the green roofs. Excess water is stored in an internal buffer, from where it irrigates the integrated greenery on the terraces. In case of excess water, it is drained into swales at ground level. Here, the water is not immediately discharged through pipes but is given the chance to infiltrate the soil. This way, the BunkerPark, with its native plants and trees, becomes not only a pleasant space but also a valuable place for both new and existing residents to stay.
“The original Bunker was a legendary, brutalist building in Eindhoven by the legendary post-war architect Maaskant. With the BunkerTower, the building has been preserved. Our design for the BunkerTower builds on Maaskant’s design vocabulary and is thus a homage to both the building and the original architect.” Nanne de Ru, Powerhouse Company
Architecture offices involved in the design: Powerhouse Company
Location: Vincent van den Heuvellaan, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Design year: 2017
Year Completed: 2023
