Train stations under construction
Every year all the first years students of the Masters Department at Design Academy Eindhoven work collectively on a ‘real’ commission in their third trimester (April-July). The idea is to confront the students with amongst others a ‘real’ case study, with a ‘real’ client, with ‘real’ deadlines, with ‘real’ presentations and pitches, and with working together in teams.
This year we received the assignment from NS, the national railway organization of the Netherlands. NS daily serves 1.1 million clients who travel by train via 4.800 fares. The company manages 380 railway stations en aims to develop large public transport nodes into dynamic city portals in cooperation with several partners. Every day, over 230.000 people purchase goods in one of the shops and catering facilities.
Over the past years, the NS remodelled a number of big train stations (Amsterdam CS, Rotterdam CS Utrecht CS, and Arnhem CS). Each project had its learning moments and a protocol has been developed on how a reconstruction should proceed. Central concern is ‘how to involve all stakeholders (the architect, the contractor, the traveller, the resident, the community, the media, ProRail, the entrepreneur, the NS employee) in this process?’
In 2012, the station of Eindhoven will be remodelled. The reconstruction of Eindhoven CS could be an exemplary project for the stakeholders mentioned above. NS has invited the master students to shine their light on this period of reconstruction. The research question focuses on draft proposals that can contribute to the existing protocol with new and different insights.
The different assignments for the students will focus on a number of issues relating to the process of the planned reconstruction in 2012:
- the interaction between the station and the city;
- the information services;
- the sense of security.
On 10 April we organized a kick-off programme for the Masters students in Eindhoven. Gijs Bakker, Head of the Masters Department and Louise Schouwenberg, Head of Contextual Design, triggered the students to think about their role as designers in the context of train stations. Then William Graat, Senior Asset Manager Stations of NS, introduced the students to the themes of the assignment, followed by an informative lecture by Luc Veeger, architect at Arcadis, about the history of the train station of Eindhoven, the connection between the city and the station and the planned reconstruction. There were also talks by Roderik van der Meulen, architect at Benthem Crouwel Architects and Maaike Adriaens, project leader Behavior at MU Consult.
In the coming weeks our student will work in three teams, guided by mentors Herman Verkerk, Thomas Lommée and Catalogtree, on assignments related to the process of the planned reconstruction of the station of Eindhoven. During the kick-off week, input was given by speakers such as Reynoud Homan, Christian van ‘t Hof (Rathenau Institute), Ginette Blom (Blom en Moors), Wies Sanders (Urban Unlimited) and Paul Mijksenaar (Bureau Mijksenaar), and more speakers are planned in the coming weeks.