Bicycle Parking Garage in Utrecht
- Jakob Schoof
The Dutch city of Utrecht is a big laboratory for post-fossil mobility: citizens currently cover more than 40 % of all inner-city distances by bike – an increasing trend. Utrecht also possesses the most heavily frequented train station of the Netherlands. Two decades ago the city began an urban expansion project along its western flank with the purpose of providing 80,000 new residents with housing by 2025. As part of this endeavour, the newly designed plaza in front of the train station received the world’s greatest bicycle parking garage, offering room for 13,500 bikes and designed by Ector Hoogstad Architecten. The new construction is part of a reorganization of the entire train station area with the aim of correcting urban planning mistakes made after World War II. In the late 60s and early 70s a building complex was created here that included the actual train station in addition to Hoog Catharijne, at the time Europe's largest shopping mall, a concert hall and a congress centre. Enclosed walkways connected the upper levels of the air-conditioned buildings, separated from vehicular traffic on the ground level.
