Reconsideration of NS Station Amsterdam Zuid

Abstract

Graduation studio New directions for the Public Interior (2013/2014) is concerned with NS Station Amsterdam Zuid as a major and infrastructural node. While the main entrance of the station is mainly focused on businesspeople and corporate Zuidas, the Parnassusweg entrance gives stage to the other users of Zuidas: to VU students, residents and scolars. This proposal for 'amused' Parnassusweg states that the railway station entrance should be transformed from back door to the city to a(nother) full city gate to Amsterdam Zuid. Nine squares and gardens along Parnassusweg symbolize the nine muses of Parnassus and function as unifying reference points along the road´s currently fragmented area. These urban interventions distinguish potential public space from technocratic infrastructure and provide the opportunity for Parnassusweg to be a street instead of a road. The redesign of the railway station entrance at Parnassusweg provides a functional connection and transit between city and station, between various means of transportation and accommodates travellers coming from different directions. It also symbolizes Mount Parnassus: home of the nine muses, a place where creation and imagination are encouraged and where the various characteristics of all muses come together as an inspirational and ‘significant’ whole.