Interesting - this area has been an eyesore eversince the bus station was redeveloped in the 90s and later on when the square was changed in the 10s it did not make it better. I come from here originally, this area is still debated to this day. Good to see an outside perspective.
actually, the station and the surrounding area is part of a plan for remodelling the city centre. If you google "stationsgebied enschede" you'll likely find some photos of the plans. The plans detail a greener, no car stationsplein with new social housing developments in place of the old gray buildings which are to be removed. Furthermore, the station is to be given an underpass and a new exit towards the northern side.
I studied Civil Engineering at the university of Twente and redesigning the Enschede station area was the first assignment project every first year received! Had a blast doing the project and I enjoy seeing your own design proposal!
No wayyy 😂 was my original? I hope so! I actually was looking at that school for my Master, I picked a different one but I visited UT in February, interesting campus! I walked there from the station
Going for trees and other greenery makes all the difference when it comes to creating lively urban spaces. Sadly when I suggested to go "green" on the station plaza in the next door city of Hengelo during its overhaul 20 years ago, that was immediately shut down because of the estimated cost of maintenance. Not the first time that green spaces have been shunned because of the cost of up keeping in Dutch cities. Ironically the design they then chose instead (a large cold black square paved with Norwegian limestone) proved out to be rather brittle and extremely expensive in continuous emergency repairs. Today it is all concrete with a few puny trees scattered here and there.
4:35 that square already is a stormwater catchment area. It is why its lower. It was one of the first such projects, at least 15 or so years ago. I remember it was quite controversial back then and kind of boring. It took like 10 years or so before the municipality embraced the fact they had created a bit of a skater park and since they brought the play area in, its become a lot more lively.
Interesting! That's what I thought too, and I said hmm, I think it's nice to make a natural green catchment in this lower elevation. Honestly, there are a lot of children in the play area over there, but the area is still kind of boring, it needs some energy!
I'd like to improve your model. By removing stationsplein and replacing it with a giant wadi, you make the station a lot less accessible. You removed the road for cars and taxi's to drop off and pick up travellers for the station. Pedestrians and cyclists don't like to take longer routes and often cut straight over stationsplein. They no longer can with your design. Stationsplein is sometimes used to host events. This is not possible when there's a wadi on stationsplein. I agree that the buildings next to stationsplein have to look more inviting. They are really ugly.
Interesting point about the drop-off and taxis. There currently exists a nice turnaround and wide road on Piet Heinstraat by the verkeersschool, and my model moves the new kiss-n-ride and drop off at Piet Heinstraat.
@@ayoungengineer I forgot about that! It kind of sucks for people coming from the north, but I think that a great pedestrian friendly stationsplein is worth more that two drop-off points for ine trainstation.
Me too, I enjoy your passion! :-) As expected, the locals have responded. (I didn't read all comments, though.) I'd guess (without knowledge or consulting) that the North and South side of the station have become "available for redevelopment" at distinctly different times, maybe the fall of different textile-related factories. About the stormwater management: (1) In the Netherlands, precipitation is not as much a matter of storm as it must be in the USA. (I may occasionally watch Ryan Hall's secundary channel.) (2) I'm from Amsterdam (NL). I happen to know that my city has separate sewer systems for waste water and precipitation. The latter even with underground temporary storage basins (like near my home). The locals may well know if this is the case in Enschede as well. (3) In Amsterdam, the municipality encourages people to remove paved surfaces from gardens.
Agree. It's important for any urban planner and engineer to understand that any design needs to have a local element to it. An infusion of personality of zo
I live in Enschede, one minute north of the station. The new single-family houses have to have their own storm water solution. Btw, why did you make this video? Are you going to present it to the city council? I know they want to do something like this. They als plan to change the bus station so a similar solution would be wonderful.
In Enschede North, I am so impressed by the stormwater solutions over there. But in the South, needs some work. I made this design originally for a school project, and here explain how I made it.
13:42 the design is pretty, but removes some rather important access routes for vehicles - The road loop that was at the top part of the station ( 13:56 ), had 3 functions: a Taxi stand, allowing people coming off the train to easily get to a taxi if they need it, a place for dropping off / picking up passengers by car and access to a car parking garage on the right hand side (between two of the buildings you found to be ugly). A suggested design like this can't succeed without new allocations for those functions.
That bank needs to go, it needs to be replaced with a building that is open most hours of the day, Can't have a prime location like that taken by a business that is closed most of the time and that people barely visit anymore, maybe you visit it once a year? once every 2-3 years? And even less in the future? A Albert Heijn for example would be a good option, split the building with a Burger King or McDonald's or another high visited fast food restaurant, like a febo, the upper floors could be converted into living space, the building "south" of the plaza in front of the station could have 2 outdoor dining restaurants in it, with the seating being under those trees. I would go so crazy as to put a grass roof over the train station, with a slope on the plaza side and have that space be a park.
On your design I would have added a separate pedestrian only bridge directly in line with the steps out of the station it self. As the bike bridge will be way to crowded with cyclists coming in and going away from the station. this is mostly a issue during the morning and afternoon rush.
Seeing children swings and a bus loading area in the same location is strange to me. We are not talking about a park but a commuting area. I agree. The area needs more retail, because it is a commuting area. But it looks like they trying to do everything for everyone. And that simply does not work well.
If only we could blow up Enschede and start from scratch... Oh wait... OK so are you genuinely unaware of the 2000 Fireworks disaster? The area between about the Lasondersingel, Deuringerstaat, Roomweg & H.B. Bleijdesteinlaan was wiped off the map when in 2000 a fireworks storage facility on the Tollenstraat (in what is now the Lasonderbleekpark) exploded, killing 23, injuring 950 and displacing 1250. They didn't demolish anything. It got demolished for them.
Nice video, I walk here almost every day and can say that your idea would be a huge improvement. One question I have is why did you remove the kiss and ride or Taxi section on the east side? This gets heavily used in peek hours because Enschede is also an end station for many surrounding villages.
I just saw the comment about the kiss and ride, but by only having that kiss and ride at Piet Hein straat you will get many 'sluipverkeer' through the city from the cars that come from the north side of the city. I think you can still have the kiss and ride at the east side around the wadi. There are these roads with gras growing trough a grid or pavement. I think this wil be a solid solution to still keep the kiss and ride but have way more greenery than there is now.
So you are not Dutch, but are able to pronounce "Enschede" like a Dutch does ? That is remarkable. You turned the bus station into a park .. how will we get to that great place, on foot ? Enschede is a hub in the region, for hospital choice, I pick Enschede cause a bus goes every half hour, it is a straight line, no need to hop on another. Very stable connection. But you removed the bus ? I could go on bicycle, but Enschede is 32KM's. That bus is necessary.
Ik ben aan het leren Nederlands! 😉 I keep the bus! I keep the original bus station in the design, just change Stationsplein, where you saw all of the trees.
I'm Dutch and I can't help but to think I dont like the station square and it's surroundings. Not by infrastructure like water management and bicycle lanes but just the way it looks, the esthetics. Id rather see some nice architecture, less concrete and sphalt, less modern art more benches, trees, maybe some grass and a fountain or pond for example.
Enschede north and east are somewhat higher than the center of the city. The city center flooded even with a thunderstorm. Measures were necessary like those at 12.00 in your video. There is a lot more along this street, but that is under the ground.
Indeed, there is a huge concrete collection and retention buffer right under the street, parallel to the wadi’s. Another such buffer + wadi is beside the traintracks in the neighborhood of Twekkelerveld.
@@pjotrh I would love to see that. If you have more cool stormwater things to see, you're always welcome to send me a Google Maps pin and I'll go there one day!
Nice one for a first vid. Also i have to say a mjor improvement for the station if they do something like that. It must be the ugliest station still in existance in the Netherlands.
Actually, the station is a municipally listed monument. It was designed by H. Schelling who took inspiration of the New Objectivity. The station was build a few years after WWII and the concrete used for the station was made using the debris left from bombardments. I agree it isn't beautiful. But it has character. Somehow it fits the city.
I have no clue about urban design or engineering. But that 3D modeling software really looks dated. Mabe it does some structual calculation or something but for presentation - why not invest in learning Blender?
9:20 whut !? 'swales' !? ...and we call them "swadi's" !? 🤣🤣🤣 i'm a clay-drawn-Dutchie, and i'm only learning about how special the Netherlands' Land and City and Traffic Infrastructure has become because of Foreighn RU-vid Video's talking about how Special the Netherlands is. I'm a piece of Shit here ;But I could be a Hero in America 😆😁😄😀!or some other non-European country🤣🤣🤣 10:14 lol 😂 I thought this was CG...
If you're gonna say Enschede so many times, you should atleast look up how to pronounce it. It's not Ent-sku-DAY, it's En-schay-duh, with very little intonation on duh, infact, stop speaking halfway through the duh. The sch is pronounced sg, but the g is hollow, not a hard g that is used in English.
