This is a proposal to transmute Catherijnebaan in Utrecht from a motorway into an urban leisure area. Its design unites an intuitive, visual working method with a rational-analytical approach to the task: first the form was developed, then the programme. The area is to take on various guises. It can be appropriated by inhabitants and visitors to the city as an urban park with sundry walking routes and recreational facilities. For the users of the nearby business centre it can serve as a relaxation centre; at the same time, it is a tourist attraction area offering amusement facilities and leisure within a limited space. The new links between the station and the inner city introduce a new circulation system to the shopping circuit. Parking is integrated in the plan and thus can become a component of the attraction. A spate of architectural interventions clear the way for an interesting walk through the comparatively narrow strip of Catherijnebaan. There unfurls before the visitor a cinematic succession of images and sounds, including an exotic garden, ramps to parking garages, a peek into a shopping centre, a climbing wall, a rooftop sunbathing area, and a narrow, unusually lit stone passageway. The park route can be construed as an urban pageant in which the visitor is as much actor as public.

Ultimately, the design has succeeded in settling naturally into its surroundings, bringing this project to a close. The possibilities latent in the area have been brought into view. It is now at the point of waking from its slumber.

Place of education: Arnhem
Tutors: Ton Venhoeven, Mart Reijs & Wim Korvinus
Specialization: architecture.