Culemborg is working on its future, and part of that involves developing the area around the train station. Commissioned by the municipality of Culemborg, we worked with Flux to create a master plan that gives shape to the ambitions in the areas of housing, mobility, sustainability, climate, economy, employment, and education that are laid down in the Station Area Structural Vision. The result is an ambitious yet feasible and realistic plan that is also flexible, allowing for further development of individual components over time.
The master plan brings together all ambitions and opportunities so that, after its transformation, the current Pavijen business park will become a sustainable neighborhood where the residents of Culemborg can find suitable housing and live and work in a healthy and pleasant environment. The points below are the essence of the Station Area.
Taking a stroll is pleasant for getting some fresh air, clearing your head, and having a chat. The car-free, green station area will have an open structure, making it easy to find your way around on foot. The station will become an attractive place where Culemborg residents, commuters, students, and recreational users can meet and find their way. Not only on the platforms, but also in the underpass connecting west and east. This lays the foundation for a social neighborhood where people can be self-reliant and help each other.
Pedestrians and cyclists have priority. Cars are parked in hubs and therefore do not need to travel as far into the neighborhood. Residents and employees walk or cycle between their destination and their car (or station), resulting in more life on the streets! Thanks to densification with space for living and working, a varied, lively urban neighborhood is created. This keeps the city accessible to everyone. The neighborhood takes on an urban and rugged character and offers an attractive business climate for new companies.
Thanks in part to hub parking, there is plenty of room for greenery with roots in the open ground. Greenery provides shade, higher humidity, cooling, and clean air. This is good for biodiversity and health, and has been proven to contribute to happiness. A city park will become the heart of the station area. A new place in Culemborg for everyone to meet, exercise, or attend an event.
Densification improves physical accessibility and creates an optimal housing mix (30% social, 30% expensive, and 40% mid-range), 80% of which consists of apartments. This best meets the housing needs in Culemborg, where many first-time buyers, older people, and empty nesters are looking for a home. It also leaves extra space for greenery, increasing from 14% now to 58% in the future.
The station area will become a mixed neighborhood with apartments, townhouses, and commercial buildings standing side by side in semi-open blocks that you can walk through. The human scale is central, and neighbors know each other. They meet on the green squares and at the neighborhood facilities on the ground floor of the hub. To achieve 'cohesion', the neighborhood must develop not only physically, but also socially. That is why we support and encourage a strong social network at the neighborhood, block, and building levels.
Climate change, heat transition, and grid congestion... These are all current issues that call for an integrated vision on the energy question for the new neighborhood. We have found an answer in a self-sufficient fifth-generation heat network that is not connected to conventional structures. There will be smart energy exchange between residential and commercial areas, with parking hubs playing an important role. Heat and cold storage will be located under the hub. In addition, there will be solar panels on the roof. This will turn the hub into a neighborhood battery, as it were.
