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City centre

100 Water Monuments

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City centre
The city centre of Groningen is located on the spur of the Hondsrug. The natural waterways of the Aa and Hunze and the historical agricultural plot pattern form the basis, on which today’s city has developed. Groningen has changed over the years, through a combination of slow growth and bold plans. The importance of the inner city for the region is steadily increasing; it attracts more visitors and is used more intensively. The role of the inner city is shifting from a shopping destination to a living room for the region. Improving pedestrian comfort is the city’s primary focus.

The building density in Groningen is high. Much of the public space is paved and optimized for various traffic flows. The underground is full of pipelines and cables, leaving little room for trees to grow. As a result, the inner city increasingly suffers from hot summers, as buildings, roads, and other infrastructure absorb and re-emit the sun’s heat. During heavy rainfall, lower areas such as Gedempte Zuiderdiep are flooded, due to a lack of vegetation and water surface.
100 Water Elements
Adapting the inner city to the changing climate could radically change the experience of public space: from homogenous yellow streets to a series of separate places to stay. With more trees, plants and water, and more place to play and to relax. Whereas traffic design used to be the first step in defining the quality of public space, now it starts with creating pleasant places for people. Places where heat is dampened, drought buffered and water stored. Iconic for this new approach is the proposal for 100 playful water items. All these small joyful moments together will substantially elevate the attractivity and mood of the historic inner city.

Mivervaplein and Hanzeplein show how climate adaptation could enrich the city. To successfully tackle climate challenges, public space, public buildings and the underground space must be connected. Together they can form a single system for water and traffic and to extend the public realm. Attractive water artefacts, urban forests, open squares and swales further colour the future public space. In the complexity of the inner city there is not one solution to fit all; each situation offers its own opportunities for tailor-made quality.
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Conflicts and morphology
Conflicts and morphology
The inner city of Groningen is a central point where bikes, cars and students intersect and struggle for space. Like them, water also needs space. While the compactness of the inner city ensures a certain degree of intensity, open space is limited. The different uses tend to overlap, generating various conflictual situations. Climate change will only make this worse: we have to take that into account.

The inner city is composed of three different layers of public spaces: (1) three East-West oriented continuities, (2) a constellation of pocket spaces, (3) a series of satellite esplanades related to public facilities. Our focus is on Gedempte Zuiderdiep (1) and Hanzeplein (2).
Water and Mobility
Climate adaptive sequences
Open pleinen
Open pleinen
In plaats van een pijpleiding wordt de straat een verzameling opeenvolgende stedelijke plekken, bestaande uit open pleinen (1) waar verschillende activiteiten kunnen plaatsvinden, ...
Stedelijke bossen
Stedelijke bossen
... stedelijke bos met poreuze grond voor natuurlijke infiltratie, ...
Waterinfrastructuur
Waterinfrastructuur
... waterinfrastructuur, ....
Laagtes
Laagtes
... en laagtes. Een ononderbroken waterlijn verbindt de diverse plekken.
Zuiderdiep-boulevard
Zuiderdiep-boulevard
The four different types of sequences are then recombined and adapted to specific locations in order to form one single and continuous boulevard. This drawing shows the different sequences put together along the boulevard. The different sequences relate to each other but also to other important public spaces at the city centre.
Waterartefacts
Waterartefacts
Water is not simply a problem that needs to be solved. It also has an important aesthetic potential and can help to improve the quality of public space. From canals to fountains, water elements can play a major role along Gedempte Zuiderdiep and in the inner city as a whole, creating a new layer of quality.
Details
Detail 1
Detail 1
De waterelementen combineren techniek, esthetica en nut. De vier elementen zijn: (1) een smalle waterloop gecombineerd met zitplaatsen
Detail 2
Detail 2
Een watertoren
Detail 3
Detail 3
Een overdekt plein voor de stalling van fietsen en de berging van water
Detail 4
Detail 4
Een watertank zwembad
Themes and variations
Themes and variations
This pentaptych combines five different sequences of the boulevard into a large panorama. It shows the boulevard as a collection of contrasted spaces and atmosphere but also as a continuous and coherent urban environment. From left to right: (1) the swimming pool — water tank, placed on a public square, (2) Minervaplein, benches and water fountain, (3) an urban forest, (4) a water tower and a mobility hub, (5) the swales at Gedempte Kattendiep.
Minervaplein
Minervaplein
Minerva Academy can play a key role in this transformation. The sketches show potential synergies between this complex building and the fragmented spaces around it: the parvis, the roof,
Reitemakersrijge, the courtyard and Jonkerstraat. The parvis is enlarged and public seating takes place along the swale at Reitemakersrijge towards the Kleine der A.
Hanzeplein
Hanzeplein
We combine the complexity of a mobility node with a climate-adaptive public space. A large bike parking infrastructure is placed beneath the Hanzeplein, above ground a compact varied urban environment for multiple uses.
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About the designers
LIST
LIST is an office for architecture based in Paris. The office researched and developed several strategies to successfully act in an increasingly complex urban context and to realize serious change.

LIST develops an approach that conciliates professional practice and research, which aims to position itself between disciplines (architecture, urbanism, landscape and planning) rather than within a set framework. This desire comes from the observation that today, many spatial and societal questions manifest themselves in various ways and on different scales. Tackling these issues and their interrelationships on diverse scales and in a cross-disciplinary way, constitutes a great asset and a fertile design framework for the office.

With this attitude, LIST developed project ranging from strategic level (Metropolitan Landscapes Brussels) to public space projects (Sports Park in Genk) and from temporary interventions (Harbour Magnets in Aarhus) to public buildings (Frans Masereel Art Centre in Flanders).