Concrete reconsidered
Carving the human network
P.J. Dekkers (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
A. Snijders – Mentor (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
S.H. Verkuijlen – Mentor (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
More Info
expand_more
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.
Abstract
Eindhoven is entering a new phase of urban and technological growth. Around the railway station, KnoopXL will intensify the city through new housing, workspaces, public space and mobility infrastructure. At the same time, Eindhoven’s mobility vision shifts attention away from the private car toward connection, accessibility, making space, health and human-centred movement. These transitions create pressure on existing urban structures, particularly concrete parking garages that were designed for a car-oriented city but now occupy strategic central locations.
This graduation project investigates how the Q-Park Mathildelaan parking garage can be transformed through subtractive architecture, structural retention and on-site material reuse. The project does not approach the garage as an empty plot for redevelopment, but as an existing spatial and material resource. Its concrete frame, TT floor elements, ramps, facade balustrades and central spiral are treated as the starting point for architectural transformation.
The design proposes a shift from car scale to human scale. Selective removal of floor elements introduces daylight, orientation, atria, terraces, bridges and new circulation routes. Removed concrete elements and facade components are harvested and reused where possible within the project. The building is reprogrammed as a public innovation and mobility hub, combining shared mobility, university-related spaces, startups, MKB workspaces, larger innovation offices, exhibition, event space and collective public areas.
By connecting circular transformation with the Quadruple Helix model, the project positions architecture as a public interface between innovation and everyday urban life. The result is not only a proposal for one garage in Eindhoven, but a design method for reconsidering similar parking structures in Dutch city centres.