The Market of Vlaardingen is the very most historic part of Vlaardingen (NL). Since the early beginnings this has been the space of the public, cultural life and it is still. Stijlgroep landscape and urban design had been commissioned for the redesign of this prominent square. The design phase has been completed in 2011 and the square is due to delivery in 2012.
The monumental trees, the existing brick walls around the church, the historic town hall and the Geuzenmonument (reminding of the first major resistance group in the Netherlands and the people who died in concentration camps) define the atmosphere of the Market.
The city of Leidschendam-Voorburg, Netherlands has recently approved the design for a extensive transformation of the Station area .The urban plan, designed by POSAD spatial strategies, connects the different scales that are present, such as the historical center of Voorburg and the adjacent Binckhorst business park. The array of functions of the transport hub – railway, tram, bicycle and bus connections – will profit from this strategic transformation.The station area of Voorburg may be regarded as one of the most important transportation hubs of the Haaglanden district. In the eighties, railroads and highway were elevated and tram, bus and city traffic were positioned beneath the viaduct. This improved the flow of traffic, but at the same time divided historic city structures.
On January 20, the two finalist companies, AREP (France) and OMA (the Netherlands) made detailed presentations of their proposed urban development concepts and highlighted the key benefits of their respective projects.
The “Green Room” is designed by Casanova+Hernandez as part of a series of temporary interventions in the public space of several European cities named “Domestic Monuments”.
The “Green Room” experiments with the role of hybrid interventions (mix of landscape+architecture+sculpture) to activate the urban life of our city centres.
The intervention transforms an anonymous area of the public space of the city into an open room for the citizens that works as a green island characterized by its domestic character and strong identity.
Reseachers at Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR) have been riding around Rotterdam and Arnhem in the Netherlands on two trikes mapping and measuring the urban climate during four time intervals on a 24 hour day. The measuring was to study the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect that often causes heat stress.
The measurements on 6 August in Rotterdam showed that during day time the city centre was two degrees warmer on average than Zestienhoven(Rotterdam) airport, which is located outside the city. A striking observation was that the city park De Twee Heuvelen was 2.4 degrees cooler than Zestienhoven. This means that the differences in the afternoon in the city can rise to 4.4 degrees centigrade. During the late evening (22-24 hours), the city centre was more than 5 degrees warmer than Zestienhoven. The route near the national Green Heart (Doenkade) turned out to be even cooler (2 degrees C) than Zestienhoven. The difference in temperature between the city and countryside consequently amounted to more than 7 degrees during nocturnal hours.
In the late afternoon the felt air temperature – the air temperature perceived by the human body – was 28 degrees C at Zestienhoven, the temperature at the city centre of Rotterdam (in the sun and out of the wind) would feel more than 6 degrees higher – so well above 30° C. Surprisingly, similar effects were measured in the much smaller city of Arnhem.
For the measurements (before sunrise, midday, late afternoon, after sunset), days with maximum temperatures above 25° C were necessary. With the two cargo bikes with measurement equipment, the researchers cycled along two previously determined routes through a number of characteristic urban districts, such as an industrial area, an older residential area, a city park and the harbour area. The researchers plan to take more measurements later this year and in 2010.
Architect/ Landscape Architect
