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Arnhem, a city in the Netherlands of a little over 150,000 inhabitants and the capital of the eastern province of Gelderland, has recently been graced with a brand-new station. The ultramodern complex is the result of a national planning effort, initiated in the 1990s, to increase the capacity, function and aura of a certain number of stations that were believed to play a key role in a then forthcoming network of high-speed railway connections. For Arnhem, the vision and plans foresaw not only a much-needed expansion of the station building itself, but also a transformation and adaptation of the area around the station. A large number of Dutch railway stations were designed and built in an era with very different demands and expectations concerning the use and role of public…

The Port of Hamburg looks rather empty at present. As recently as a few decades ago boots, tugs, freighters and passenger ships filled the Northern Elbe, but now mainly museum and cruise ships operate there. Life along the Elbe’s northern banks has changed greatly. In the early 1930s the banks of the river along the streets “Vorsetzen” and “Baumwall” were places of port operations and cargo handling. The Hanseatic City’s “engine room” was located near the mouth of the Alster – it was where the port had its origins. Separation and Unification The city built fortifications during the Renaissance that separated the inner harbour from the lower harbour. These were closed at night with a wall made of tree trunks, the so-called Baumwall (tree wall), in order to protect the…

THE CANOPY, PARIS, FRANCE Client: City of Paris Architects: Patrick Berger and Jacques Anziutti Construction: 2011–2016 The center of Paris has long been dedicated to commerce. It began in the 12th century when Louis VI decreed the transfer of the two outlying markets to be reassembled on the Right Bank at the intersection of three important roadways: Rue Saint-Denis, Rue Saint-Honoré, and Rue Montmartre. Philippe II Auguste developed this central market, which rapidly became a vast bazaar where comestibles sat side by side with textiles and footwear. In the 16th century, Francis I decided on the construction of the commercial galleries, which in turn disappeared in the 19th century when Les Halles of Victor Baltard were built. Visualized by Napoleon I and finally realized by Napoleon III during the Second…

It’s all about connections In 2015 the German architecture magazines Baumeister and Topos launched the Cities Initiative, the aim of which is to address important questions about future cities. After a successful first year, we were able to convince lighting specialist Schréder to actively support the initiative, which in 2016 is all about connectivity: Nowadays people are well-linked via their smartphones and social media. In a similar sense, the connection between cities is a key to the success of urban space. Districts, suburbs and cities will not only have to interconnect with one another, but also with energy, know-ledge and food suppliers. In doing so, they can satisfy the needs of their inhabitants in the long term. During the Berlin-based trade fair Metropolitan Solutions, we discussed the crucial question of…

Located directly in the centre of Cologne, close to a pedestrian zone and the busy North-South Drive, L. Fritz Gruber Plaza surprises visitors with its aesthetic tranquillity and homogeneity. Framed by mighty historic buildings from a variety of eras, the redesign of the plaza is deliberately unpretentious. In a space long used as a parking area, the focus of attention has been shifted to people, who have become co-designers of the new plaza. An Urban Pictorial Space. At first glance the plaza looks like leftover space, where a building had once stood that was not rebuilt after the Second World War. This is not the case, however. Cologne’s reconstruction plans explicitly called for this small space to be used as an urban plaza. But, as so often happens in car-friendly…

TOPOS: How would you describe yourself? Are you an artist or a designer? DAAN ROOSEGAARDE: I would describe myself as Daan Roosegaarde! I don’t believe in all these tags and words. I think the future is about being hybrid and finding new connections between existing things. So I don’t feel the urge to put a label on myself. TOPOS: Could you tell me a bit more about yourself? DAAN ROOSEGAARDE: I studied Fine Arts and did a master’s in Architecture at the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam. Eight years ago, I founded my own studio out of a desire for public space, creative thinking, new technology, and an almost naive notion of improving reality. TOPOS: What are your influences? DAAN ROOSEGAARDE: I was always fascinated by the architecture of Arata Isozaki…

In the beginning there was light – not only in Genesis, but also in the minds of the landscape architects from Bauchplan. During the workshop that was organised to gather suggestions for the central urban redevelopment of the Böblingen railway station area, planners came up with the idea of using light not only for night illumination, but also to mould and shape the public space. A lot to ask from the lighting solution, but certainly not impossible, as shown by the specially designed Lichtring luminaires, developed by Bauchplan in collaboration with the Bergmeister Leuchten luminaire manufacturer. Visual overlays. For a long time the station area was little more than a transport space without any real amenities. The relocation of the bus station parallel to the railway by the local authorities…

Täby is a classic modernist suburb, 15 kilometres north of Stockholm, and one in the process of transforming its identity through urban densification. Historically, Täby was a rural community, but in the 1950s and ’60s, it became part of a massive national building program that aimed to build one million dwellings within 10 years. A city centre emerged with large-scale modernist architecture and a modern, glassed mall, the largest in Europe. The mall came to dominate, in large part, the identity of central Täby, which formed around the mall and added community services, education, public transport, and generous parking facilities. Unfortunately, the centre had poor connection to the surrounding housing areas and little or no public space or natural meeting places outside the mall. The central area was also very…

New York City’s Lower East side was once a haven for immigrants, but is now a trendy district. It is home to the Lowline Lab, a small tropical island in the middle of the urban jungle that has been open on weekends since the autumn of 2015. The lab is located in an old industrial building next to the picturesque market hall on Essex Street and opposite a bar named after the legendary William “Boss” Tweed, whose political career in the 19th century ended in jail. The Lowline Lab is a test run for something found only in New York: an underground park. In the lab, two island-like raised beds framed with light-coloured wood contain a variety of tropical plants such as ferns, mosses, agave plants and cactuses, as well…

Open Space in the City – Function and Design Open space in cities should not be considered separately, as it is always a part of the urban landscape. A city’s open space always forms a more or less densely woven net, the mesh of which can vary greatly. The terms “urban open space network” and “urban patchwork landscape” are often used for these spaces. Whatever they are called, they have a very strong social component. They should be under-stood as places where interaction between people and space takes place. According to the principle “people make places”, space is often activated through its use by people, becoming true urban open space areas. These can be of both a permanent nature as well as temporary, for instance on vacant lots in cities.…