The Station Square is the gateway for visitors and reflects the city’s regional identity, expresses the dynamics of the public transportation node, and offers a relaxed and comfortable place to linger. It accommodates a bicycle route under the tracks (26,000 users daily). The square proves to be popular with a wide range of visitors, making it an animated and safe place.
Through connecting different modes of transportation in an urban space of high quality, the project contributes significantly to the sustainability of the city. Before the intervention, the site was an unruly vehicular area, unfriendly to pedestrians and an aesthetically bleak entrance to the city. Only the historic station building had some significance in the traffic congestion.
Overhauling the infrastructure so that the site could link between the north and the south sides of the city, while reinvigorating the area socially and culturally, were the overarching goals of this project.
The design integrates the multiple transportation types (bus terminal, railway station, rail tracks, major bicycle and pedestrian routes, bicycle parking, vehicular drop-off, and taxi stand). This created the room for a relaxed pedestrian plaza. At the centre of the square is an underpass for bicycles and pedestrians: a vital link in the city. On top a balcony is created, where one has a dramatic view of the square and surrounding urban fabric. The urban envelope surrounding the square is a crescent, which accommodates shops, housing, and office buildings. A large bicycle parking area is contained underground, connecting to the underpass, and opening onto the square, giving the square another level of functional significance.
Floor
The shell-shaped floor radiates calm and exclusive simplicity. Yellow granite continues throughout and up until the tree trunks. The floor has the image of sand: informal, inviting, and refers to the regional landscape. The pattern of craquelure-like cracks belies an array of technical functions such as line drains, dilatations, tree grates, and light poles. The unique tree grates blend seamlessly into the characteristic paving pattern.
Trees
The crescent of buildings makes a sheltered square with a character both of urbanity and landscape. The planting is transparent with airy trees. Pine trees, Pinus sylvestris, were selected from a nursery, as if picked from the regional forest. They stand in a loose arrangement that is denser along the edge of the square and giving way to openness towards the centre.
Lighting
While simple light poles stand loosely spread among the stems of the pines, the main emphasis is on the spectacle of the glass wall. Spanning the length of the square, the wall is a dynamic visual frame. The 1.3 million LED lights in the glass wall showcase a continuously changing landscape of ‘travelling sand’, referencing a surprising phenomenon of the regional landscape. The glass wall is also lit during the day, transforming the otherwise shaded (north-facing) wall into one of the most vibrant elements of the square.
Sculptural objects
Horizontal and slightly extruded elements contrast from the gentle slope of the square and serve a specific use or invite passersby to rest and watch the everyday ballet of people coming and going. Both the skating pool and a granite water table provide active social elements and expand the range and mingling of different user types. A large red metal box acts as an iconic seating element while preserving the roots of the existing Platanus tree from the re-grading of the site. These extruded craquelure shapes replace the need for benches and offer informal opportunities for play. This combination of sculptural elements supports use by different groups of people throughout the day.
Environmental Concerns
The striking sight of pine trees in a public square serves as an instant indicator for visitors of the regional identity the city. Large underground tree-boxes with un-compacted soil create the ideal condition for the pines to mature. The craquelure pattern collects and channels rainwater to the root systems.
Evaluation
Since the project’s completion in 2008, it has proven to be a successful and vibrant new city space. More than merely serving its functional requirements as a comfortable transition space, it has become a bustling gateway space for the city: a space uniquely suited to the region. By offering a wide range of community amenities the public appreciates the space as a safe and lively.
The flexibility of the space allows for events to take place, attracting large crowds that still has a good overview due to the changes of level. The pines, due to the exceptional care taken for their growing conditions, have matured to impressive sizes: producing a pleasantly shaded and sheltered area. The atmosphere here resembles that of the pine forest surrounding the city.
Other landscape architecture offices involved in the design of landscape: Planning Department City of Apeldoorn
Architecture offices involved in the design: Studio SK (station) DKV architects / Zwart Hond (Crescent)
Location: Stationsplein, Apeldoorn, the Netherlands
Design year: 1999-2005
Year Completed: realization 2005-2008
