Het station als historisch gelaagd landschap: continuïteit of trendbreuk?

Abstract

The railway station as a historically layered landscape: continuity or trend break? During the 21st century, many major railway stations in the Netherlands were redeveloped. The national railway company (ns) claims to have found a method of redevelopment. The aim of this method is to create a recognizable identity for railway stations. The cultural history of railway station landscapes seems to have been largely neglected in many cases. Two of these major redevelopment projects are the railway stations of Zwolle and Tilburg. The redevelopment of the Zwolle station is a good example of how designers can approach the identity of a railway station by identifying the cultural history and many layers of the railway landscape. In Tilburg, on the other hand, the cultural history of the station is not taken into account in the redevelopment. This article aims to make clear that by using the method of ‘landscape biography’, the many layers of historical station landscapes can be used in redevelopment projects to create recognizable identities.