center of New Town Bloemendaal

In the Center of the New Town Bloemendaal people and animals find their home.

Center of the New Town Bloemendaal, Gouda

The urban design for the Center Area of the New Town Bloemendaal North of the medieval city of Gouda was realized and approved over a period of 4 month.

Architects bureau Ir. K.F.G. Spruit was commissioned to design the town center's buildings and to maintain a consistency in the urban environment was also asked to make the urban plan. They in turn requested Ir. Enno Wiersma to realize the design. This plan was made in close contact with the municipality of Gouda.

Master plan of the New Town Bloemendaal.

Detail of the center area.

The master plan of the New Town Bloemendaal shows how the landscape is entering into the actual center as parks dividing the neighborhoods. The same counts for the waterways passing the center that lead towards the nearby lakes. Bridges are the connecting elements with the center and between the surrounding neighborhoods. These are the Lowlands of the province of South-Holland.

Illustration of the urban plan. This drawing illustrates just one possibility of the many, which are possible within the urban structure that forms the formal plan.
*Illustration of the urban plan of the center area.*		*North side of the center area.*
After the invitation to design the urban plan for the center area of the new town Bloemendaal of Gouda the esthetical theory, developed as part of the graduation thesis, was now tested within a professional environment where ecological ideas already existed. And were applied in the design for the master plan of the new town Bloemendaal. There were however some preconceived notions within the municipality about high-rise apartment buildings as part of the ‘modern’ ideal. It could be proven however that with only 4-storeyed apartment buildings in the cardinal directions and one-family houses in rows the same population density could be reached then high-rise apartment buildings.		*Green zone in North direction.*
		*Entering the center area with below the garage.*
*Route in East direction with the color red during building.*		*Garage in front with home for the elder as an urban accent.*

The design was made over a four-month period, approved by the municipality and realized over the following twenty years. Here a similar situation existed as in the Tanthof project of Delft. Also the center of the new town was marked by a rural road, the Bloemendaalseweg, and with its vicinity preserved in the new development. This quaint site with old farmhouses was integrated in the new urban environment and new functions were found to maintain the premises. The urban plan provides a simple, flexible structure, which was maintained throughout the period of development. The shopping mall is the center of park zones in the cardinal directions that connect the various surrounding neighborhoods and eventually end up in the open landscape of Holland. Along the park zones in the directions North, East, South and West 4-storied apartment buildings were planned of which the ground floors are reserved for various functions related to the town center and allow flexibility for the future. Other housing developments consist of row houses with gardens and the design proved both flexible and with sufficient density. The latter was essential to avoid the high-rise apartment buildings as were originally planned. An active municipal park service guaranteed and realized a natural environment, that connect every house block through park zones with the town center and landscape through pedestrian and bicycle routes. Also a lot of bird life made this their home.		*View from the Bloemendaalseweg towards the center area.*
		*Apartment buildings along park zone in East direction.*
		*Connecting bridge of park zone East direction.*
		This Preliminary Sketch does not only show most of the essence of the plan, it is also nearest to the realized urbanization. The plan shows a simple structure with zoning for the different kind of buildings. Yellow is the urban center from which the gray zones with apartment buildings emanate into the 4 cardinal directions. Also the road structure is realized after this plan.