The Bijlmermeer neighbourhood of Amsterdam, which today houses almost 100,000 people of over 150 nationalities, was designed as a single project of nearly identical high-rise buildings, laid out in a hexagonal grid. It was connected to the centre of Amsterdam by a metro line raised 11m above the ground on a brutalist concrete structure. The neighbourhood gained a reputation for social segregation or ghettoization. The relatively low incomes and social status of its inhabitants along with the large scale buildings, which afforded little social control, made for a problematic mix that resulted in high crime rates and spiralling decline.
A comprehensive urban regeneration program began in the late 1990s with many of the high rise buildings torn down and investment aimed at social and economic diversification. As a part of the area’s regeneration the Kraaiennest metro station was enlarged, upgraded and repositioned to align with a new more clearly defined and traditional street layout. The new station, completed in June 2013, consists of an outdoor entrance pavilion and a canopy. It has a ground level entrance hall with escalators to reach the platform and a track level canopy, are separate structures that sit within and upon the existing concrete track.
Both are clad in stainless steel panels with the lower entrance pavilion having a laser cut decorative fenestration that allow for daylight to penetrate into the hall during the day and in the evening for the station to act as a lantern, lighting the surrounding public realm and providing a warm and attractive beacon in the streetscape. At a distance, the simple geometric forms of the pavilion and canopy are assimilated into the track structure generating a new whole. Close up the finely detailed filigree of the entrance hall enclosure contrasts with the track structure and speaks of publicness.
The Bijlmermeer neighbourhood of Amsterdam, which today houses almost 100,000 people of over 150 nationalities, was designed as a single project of nearly identical high-rise buildings, laid out in a hexagonal grid. It was connected to the centre of Amsterdam by a metro line raised 11m above the ground on a brutalist concrete structure. The neighbourhood gained a reputation for social segregation or ghettoization. The relatively low incomes and social status of its inhabitants along with the large scale buildings, which afforded little social control, made for a problematic mix that resulted in high crime rates and spiralling decline.
A comprehensive urban regeneration program began in the late 1990s with many of the high rise buildings torn down and investment aimed at social and economic diversification. As a part of the area’s regeneration the Kraaiennest metro station was enlarged, upgraded and repositioned to align with a new more clearly defined and traditional street layout. The new station, completed in June 2013, consists of an outdoor entrance pavilion and a canopy. It has a ground level entrance hall with escalators to reach the platform and a track level canopy, are separate structures that sit within and upon the existing concrete track.
Both are clad in stainless steel panels with the lower entrance pavilion having a laser cut decorative fenestration that allow for daylight to penetrate into the hall during the day and in the evening for the station to act as a lantern, lighting the surrounding public realm and providing a warm and attractive beacon in the streetscape. At a distance, the simple geometric forms of the pavilion and canopy are assimilated into the track structure generating a new whole. Close up the finely detailed filigree of the entrance hall enclosure contrasts with the track structure and speaks of publicness.