Major transformations are in the pipeline in Rijswijk and Beverwijk. Studio Hartzema is making a redevelopment plan for the Havenkwartier in Rijswijk and Studio Vinke is drawing on the Spoorzone in Beverwijk. In addition to designing, their role is one of connecting, and of paying attention to the bigger story for the long term.
Yes, Rijswijk has a harbor. Not many people know that, says Henk Hartzema. The namesake of Studio Hartzema designed a plan for the area around that harbor, on the northeastern tip of the Plaspoelpolder. Hartzema typifies the twenty-hectare Havenkwartier: ‘Business premises from the 50s and 60s, somewhat newer offices. 70 thousand square meters are in use, 50 thousand are empty. The area was running backwards for a long time. Now attention is picking up; People are getting an eye for the potential.’ Beverwijk also has a harbor. There will soon be no homes there, says Stefan Bödecker of Studio Vinke, because category 5 work is taking place in the port. Bödecker: ‘The programme here is aimed at industry and employment; Beverwijk has a growing offshore industry in the port and Tata Steel as a neighbour.’
The plans for the port of Beverwijk are part of the Spoorzone Plan, the broad spatial exploration by Studio Vinke for the municipality and NS. The aim is to link and improve the areas on both sides of the wide strip of infrastructure (A22 and railway) that divides the municipality in two. The Spoorzone Plan provides for a traverse at the station and transforms the port and its surroundings at the ‘back’ into a mixed urban area with 7,000 new homes, facilities – and preservation of existing activity. Bödecker: ‘Densification at these two locations in particular offers opportunities for a new urbanity. A leap in scale is imminent. Lively plinths with a human scale ensure a pleasant living environment. This area is also slowly coming onto the map – with the municipality, entrepreneurs and vocational education, the three parties for which we are active here.’
Narrative
The Havenkwartier in Rijswijk is also being transformed into a mixed urban area. There is
more densification by adding 2,500 homes and 10,000 square metres of facilities – while retaining the 70,000 square metres of activity. The houses are oriented towards the port basin. Hartzema: ‘The water holds everything together here.’ The role of Studio Vinke is mainly about the long-term vision, Bödecker believes. ‘Beverwijk is a regional hub in an area with many opportunities. In general, a long-term vision is difficult for many parties. When you see such a port, it is difficult to immediately see the spatial and programmatic potential. It is not a spread bed. You have to set up a narrative and repeat it very often. The municipality has a small team of its own with whom we can spar well. The lines are short on both sides. We already work outside the lines here, advising on the programming but also on whether or not to purchase locations. Ultimately, the key to success is that all players seek each other out, in a complex network of three parties.’ Henk Hartzema initially started in Het Havenkwartier as a partner of five private parties. After that, the municipality took over. ‘Who appoints me doesn’t matter much in the end. As an urban planner you are working for the greater cause, co-shaping society, how people relate to each other. You don’t get that for free, you have to do something for it.’
Pocket pitches
About his role in that process, Hartzema says: ‘I go on board, stay and connect. Everyone has their truth, from developer to cyclist. I think they are all relevant. The urban plan is the representation of reality in which all those wishes eventually find a place.’
In the Havenkwartier, this resulted in pocket places, among other things. All building plans surrender twenty percent of their territory and that space is returned in the form of city squares,
quays, passages and courtyards. ‘With higher densities and smaller households, the importance of collectivity increases,’ says Hartzema. ‘The pocket seats contribute to that.’ The developers will receive additional building rights in return. For example, they are allowed to build higher than the ‘Rijswijk height’ of 4+1 that applies in the Havenkwartier. With his plan, Hartzema says he is recovering something that the profession with the Vinex districts relinquished: ‘Urban planning has become an Excel exercise. Putting together puzzles. Even architects are now involved in urban planning, because “the profession is nothing”. But that’s too easy. Bringing the collective together and giving privacy, modelling society as we have been doing since famous Berlage, is the domain and forte of the urban planner.’
Hans Fuchs interviews Henk Hartzema and Stefan Bödecker, Blauwe Kamer, February 2024
