Erol Öztan
Heerlen, mining town. Academie voor Bouwkunst (The Netherlands)
The centre of the town of Heerlen is the heart of the city. It places a vital role in a region with 250.000 inhabitants. The inner city symbolizes the entire region. The old bus and train station used to be the starting point for 2 parallel main roads which lead into its centre. The last decades Heerlen has seen a lot of change in the structure and placement of its shops and accommodating infrastructure. Relocation of the bus and train station and the introduction of shopping malls are a integral part of these developments trough recent history.
The millennium introduced yet another large scale shopping mall with new walking routes through Heerlen’s centre.
The combination of the mentioned changes in Heerlen have set a decay in motion for the 2 former main streets, a increasing amount of visitors stay away, leaving these former centre areas in their shopping patterns. This decay encompasses the entire block in and around these 2 streets, resulting in vacant shops and a depravation of the area.
To increase the desirability of the entire area, and restore the 2 former grand shopping streets in its splendour I did research in the potential of the area en the different options available. It appears there is a high demand for facilities targeting the demand of children for the visitors of Heerlen centre. On the area of living there are no available apartments with 200 Square meters or more. Heerlen also is in high demand for shops targeting at small-scale differentiated supply to its visitors.
When u combine this demand with the original city plans of the architect Stuyt, dating back too 1900, which emphasised on the vital role plaza’s play in Heerlen Centre, I picked 1 starting area from which the public once again visit the centre along its former routes. This small change in the city plan tackles a broad range of the current problems facing the area with 1 architectural adjustment.
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