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Impression of Museumpark with underground parking garage by Paul de Ruiter Architecten. Photograph: Paul de Ruiter Architecten
Construction activities in Museumpark include the construction of an underground parking garage and the redevelopment of the park itself. This means that, just fifteen years after it was built, the park will be changed drastically. The design by Yves Brunier and Rem Koolhaas had already met with criticism when it was first completed, and that has only increased over the years, as the park rapidly lost its luster.
Desolate plain
The events area in particular was criticized: "This new park has been prepared for large public events by the construction of a humongous, elevated, blacktop plain, which pedestrians will only be able to cross with the greatest psychological difficulty. Could it be that the void beyond is waiting for such rare events as the Uitgaansmarkt? Or does the green zone in the park only serve as a picturesque, relaxing frame for metropolitan activities like some sort of characteristic, twentieth-century Rotterdam variation on the Public Park?" (Gerda ten Cate in 'Bouw' 48 (1993) 23)
Graffiti
At the press conference held when the park was opened, Koolhaas said: "In France, they would have put a fence around the park in order to protect such a vulnerable area." The fact that this was not done caused the park to lose its shine as soon as it was built. The stainless steel wall was defaced with graffiti, the chunks of blue glass in between the rocks were stolen. The hostas and geranium varieties were planted too late and either withered in the heat, were trampled or pulled out of the ground. Construction of the final 'room' in the design, the apple orchard on its base of shells, did not have the intended result either. The trees did not grow well in this soil and died. As a result, this part of the park never amounted to more than a few measly stalks sticking out of the pallid soil.
High-quality image
Museumpark is being redeveloped using a recovery and improvement plan based on OMA's original design. The romantic garden will be restored to its former glory and the events area will be given a well-tended, high-quality image. About 300 pollarded acacias will be planted on the former shell field and the soil covered with white pebbles instead of shells. A three-story parking garage and an underground water storage area, designed by architect Paul de Ruiter, will be built underneath the events area.
> Impression of Museumpark with underground parking garage by Paul de Ruiter
Architecten. Photograph: Paul de Ruiter Architecten.
Underground parking garage
The parking garage will provide some 1,150 additional parking spaces, most of which are for the Erasmus Medical Center, which is to be extended over the next few years. The water reservoir has a capacity of 10 million liters and will limit flooding in the city center during periods of heavy rainfall. Museumpark parking garage was designed to blend in with the park-like surroundings. Parking garage users must feel safe and at ease, which is why atriums, glass stairwells and elegant steel columns provide light, air, spaciousness and transparence. The parking garage exits are new architectural elements in the landscape design.
Website Parkeergarage Museumpark
Website Architectenbureau Paul de Ruiter
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