Brandevoort part 1, the urban core or "De Veste"

The urban core of Brandevoort was themed as a fortified town. This high-density area only knows terraced housing and apartments. Due to the naturally wet site more room had to be allocated for surface water, so a city moat was created. Here a view of "De Veste" across this moat. The entrances are formalised by buildings resembling gates. The corners have been emphasised by tower-like structures.   

In other placed the moat is more a canal with grassy banks planted with trees. These embankments have been laid out to accommodate leisure activities like walking, fishing and playing. The central canal can overflow to retain more water to prevent flooding in the surrounding built-up areas.

Wide bridges give access to "De Veste" across the water. The planted green embankment with a closed row of family housing along the top is a notable feature on the south side of the urban core. Beyond the water some of the lower buildings with orange roof tiles in one of the "Buitens" are visible.

One of the formal gates (left) that gives access to the urban core of Brandevoort. This historicising type of architecture fits well with the themed approach, New Urbanism and the aesthetic vein of Postmodernism. The buildings contain several flats. The closed front with a continuous building line culminating in one of the "towers" can be seen from the bridge up to the "city gate". There are only a few basic floor plans, but the Quality Plan (known as BKP in the Netherlands) prescribes variety, so no-one can choose the same option in the colour and finish of the facade, roof shape or ornamentation as their direct neighbour.

This mandatory variation is also visible in this wide central street (one of the so-called avenues that cut through the urban core). Again the variation in the width of the building plot is basically non-existent as in historic examples in the Low Countries. Variation is found in the facade, the materials used, ornamentation and the roof.

In accordance with Kevin Lynch's approach to visual cues in the urban landscape the streetscape is livened by landmark buildings. On the left a rather strange tower in a postmodern mix of a medieval weighting house and a neoclassical colonnade. On the right a view down an urban street towards one of the corner towers, meant to resemble the silhouette of a fortified town.

In places the streets widen to form small squares. Here the architecture with a clear neoclassical touch emphasises the round shape by curving round the central public garden.

At present more than half of "De Veste" has been developed. On the western side the urban core is being finished. Although the housing references pre-industrial architecture in appearance, it is built using current methods of construction. The result can be seen on the right with a long front of neoclassical architecture in tightly controlled variety. 

To counteract the urban heat island effect, great attention has been paid to include trees in this "new fortified town". This is conform the historic situation in Dutch water cities, by the way. There the streets and canals were planted, mostly with Elm and Lime. Again the prescribed visual variety is evident.

Gates are used in many places in "De Veste". An arched gateway underneath the bedrooms of a family house gives access to a private parking area within the urban block (left). In a similar fashion, but more ornate (on the right), one of the formal gates that gives access to the central square of the Plaetse. Across the canal another gate building is visible. These connections serve slow traffic.

The central square - known as Plaetse- is boarded on one side by the canal. On it a Victorian market hall was erected as a central focal point for the community. This is a lovely facsimile of such a structure, but I know of no historic towns in the Netherlands that has anything similar.

The canal runs along the central public spaces of the urban core of Brandevoort, creating a sense of place. Much attention has been paid to the bridges so they are easily crossed by pedestrian and bicycle traffic. The canal is lined with trees. The houses along this new canal are amongst the most popular in Brandevoort.

 

Around the Plaetse the building height is greater than in the rest of the urban core. High narrow buildings with apartments stand side by side along the canal and around the square. Variation was also strictly controlled by the municipal quality control officer. The result is a pleasant urban space. Sadly it was rather devoid of people when I was there...

Low and wide arched gateways give access to narrow back streets and can provide a shorter route for slow traffic (i.e. pedestrians and cyclists). Here the public space of "De Lindt" widens to accommodate a canal, that is meant to evoke the stream that once ran here. In Dutch water cities natural watercourses and streams were incorporated into the urban fabric and not filled in or culverted.

The station Helmond-Brandevoort is a typical commuter station mainly servicing neighbouring Eindhoven and to a lesser extent Helmond. The building is less than typical and to my taste not very well designed. It is rather typical of "standard" Postmodern architecture in the Low Countries, that doesn't result in much more than a collage of borrowed ornamentation. In contrast to the well-balanced facades of the housing this building lacks good proportions. Beyond the railway lines a second high-density section of Brandevoort -called "De Marke"- will be developed.