The World’s Biggest Bicycle Parking

Bicycle parking Stationsplein Utrecht

Ector Hoogstad Architecten

Situation

Histo­ri­cally, the Dutch have always been fervent cyclists. This enthu­siasm is now growing even further as cycling is being disco­vered as a key ingre­dient of the sustainable city. Bicycle parking Stati­ons­plein is a result of this deve­lo­p­ment.

New bicycle typo­lo­gies such as the intro­duc­tion of the so-called e‑bike are helping to amplify this shift in mass trans­por­ta­tion. More and more public trans­port hubs will be comple­mented with exten­sive and user friendly amen­i­ties for cyclists, as incre­asing amounts of people begin to favour the combi­na­tion of cycling and public trans­port over car use.

Central station

The Utrecht Central station area is curr­ently under­going a major make­over. By healing the scars left behind by a number of ‘moder­niza­tions’ carried out in the sixties and seven­ties and adding new func­tions to the area, this part of Utrecht is desi­gnated to finally become a vibrant and friendly part of the city centre. To achieve this, inner city high­ways are being replaced by more modest streets and historic canals are being restored. Also, the huge moder­nist mega­struc­ture that once glued toge­ther the railway station and the Hoog Catha­rijne shop­ping mall (both the biggest of their kind in the Nether­lands) has been taken apart, allo­wing for a new public street and square to be inserted, toge­ther with a bicycle parking garage: Bicycle parking Stati­ons­plein.

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Stationsplein

This new “Stati­ons­plein” (Stati­ons­allee), a street aimed mainly at pede­strians rises by means of 30 meter wide stair­cases, to a level of 6 meters to widen into a square where the entrances of both the station and the shop­ping mall are situated. An enormous iconic canopy marks the square and enables a dry crossing between the parts that before have always been connected.

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Convenience, speed and safety

The three storey Bicycle parking Stati­ons­plein is situated under­neath the square. It has been desi­gned with three aims in mind:  conve­ni­ence, speed and safety. In order to achieve this in a faci­lity of this scale, cyclists are enabled to pedal all the way up to their parking slot. The parking lanes branch off the cycle paths, to ensure that users do not get in the way of cyclists passing through the system. Room for moun­ting and dismoun­ting is left along­side the cycling lanes. Mode­stly sloping ramps connect the parking areas on diffe­rent levels. The walls are colour-coded to indi­cate the routing, and elec­tronic signals indi­cate the posi­tion of free parking slots. Addi­tional faci­li­ties such as a cycle repair shop, a cycle rental outlet and several floor mana­gers meet users’ every need.

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Connection

At Bicycle parking Stati­ons­plein, stair­wells and tunnels create direct connec­tions to the elevated square, the main terminal buil­ding and the plat­forms. Ensu­ring good orien­ta­tion and plenty of daylight, the stair­wells are located inside atria covered by glass roofs. Large windows in the outer walls allow users views toward the plat­forms and the bus terminal.

Materials

Bicycle parking Stati­ons­plein uses durable mate­rials such as concrete, steel and chemi­cally treated wood. In combi­na­tion, these raw mate­rials create an atmo­sphere in the buil­ding that still feels warm and plea­sant. Three concrete columns supporting the giant canopy extend all the way down into the parking area. These trumpet-shaped elements have a diameter of 5 meters at floor level, falling to 1.2 m at the top, and each one is cast as a single element.

A new dimension

Bicycle parking Stati­ons­plein is more than just infra­struc­ture. It adds an exci­ting and surpri­sing archi­tec­tural dimen­sion to the city. Cycling through the garage has become a unique expe­ri­ence; not just another part of ever­yday life in the city, but almost an attrac­tion in its own right.

The first phase of the project was opened in early August 2017, provi­ding room for 6,000 bicy­cles.

The cycle parking area was offi­ci­ally opened at 19 august 2019 and now has a world record capa­city of over 12,500 bikes.

Ector Hoog­stad Archi­tecten (in colla­bo­ra­tion with Sant&Co and Royal Hasko­ning DHV) won the commis­sion to design the project in a invited compe­ti­tion in 2011.

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Compa­nies involved and project data

Architects

Ector Hoog­stad Archi­tecten
Hofplein 20, 24th floor, 
3032 AC, Rotterdam
Nether­lands

Project team: Joost Ector, Max Pape, Chris Arts, Stijn Rade­ma­kers, Gijs Sanders, Ralph Sijs­ter­mans, Lesley Bijholt, Romy Berntsen, Daniel Kees Bongers,

Landscape design

Buro Sant en Co  

Client

Construction management

Royal Hasko­ningDHV

Photographs

Petra Appelhof

Built surface

21.500 m²

Address

Stati­ons­plein 7
3511 ED Utrecht
Netherlans

Opening

2019

Text

Ector Hoog­stad Archi­tecten

Videos

Utrecht: Plan­ning for People & Bikes, Not for Cars from STREETFILMS on Vimeo.

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At “More Sports. More Archi­tec­ture.” you will find func­tional, spec­ta­cular and simply beau­tiful buil­dings and faci­li­ties for sports and leisure.
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