Recovery of the Catharijnesingel canal by OKRA landschapsarchitect, 11th European Prize for Urban Public Space 2022
15/11/2022.
[Utrecht] Netherlands
metalocus, ADELA BONAS
metalocus, ADELA BONAS
The recovery of the Catharijnesingel canal in Utrecht by OKRA Landschapsarchitecten, (previously published in METALOCUS) won work the European Prize for Urban Public Space 2022.
The International Jury awards the 2022 European Prize for Urban Public Space to the recovery of the Catharijnesingel canal in the city of Utrecht (Netherlands). Another 5 finalists reached the final, all of them with equally exceptional projects.
The works presented in this edition show the shared problems of European cities and some of the solutions they propose to deal with them, especially in a post-pandemic context in which tackling climate change and making cities more livable has become on a core issue.
The International Jury awards the 2022 European Prize for Urban Public Space to the recovery of the Catharijnesingel canal in the city of Utrecht (Netherlands). Another 5 finalists reached the final, all of them with equally exceptional projects.
The works presented in this edition show the shared problems of European cities and some of the solutions they propose to deal with them, especially in a post-pandemic context in which tackling climate change and making cities more livable has become on a core issue.
Catharijnesingel by OKRA landscape architects. Photograph courtesy of OKRA
Catharijnesingel by OKRA landscape architects. Photograph courtesy of OKRA
Catharijnesingel by OKRA landscape architects. Photograph courtesy of OKRA
Catharijnesingel by OKRA landscape architects. Photograph courtesy of OKRA
Catharijnesingel by OKRA landscape architects. Photograph courtesy of OKRA
Catharijnesingel by OKRA landscape architects. Photograph courtesy of OKRA
Catharijnesingel by OKRA landscape architects. Photograph courtesy of OKRA
Catharijnesingel by OKRA landscape architects. Photograph courtesy of OKRA
Catharijnesingel by OKRA landscape architects. Photograph courtesy of OKRA
Catharijnesingel by OKRA landscape architects. Photograph courtesy of OKRA
Catharijnesingel by OKRA landscape architects. Photograph courtesy of OKRA
Masterplan. Catharijnesingel by OKRA landscape architects.
Sections. Catharijnesingel by OKRA landscape architects.
Sections. Catharijnesingel by OKRA landscape architects.
Sections. Catharijnesingel by OKRA landscape architects.
Sections. Catharijnesingel by OKRA landscape architects.
The Jury considered that the reconstruction of the canal together with the recovery of the linear park that runs along its banks, designed by OKRA landschapsarchitect, is an exemplary intervention that allows the survival of our cities in a time that pays more attention to our environmental climate.
The canal is a crucial element in building urban resilience: it increases the city's ability to cope with extreme heat, storms, and flooding. The recovery of water and vegetation contributes to sequestering carbon and reducing pollution while becoming a pleasant space, for relationships with living beings and playful for the residents of the City.
The Jury considers that the intervention is part of a broader urban transformation, which addresses the future by recovering elements of the city's past. The canal has returned to its original state after being replaced for more than fifty years by a large highway. Not only does motorized traffic decrease, but also, most importantly, it prioritizes pedestrian mobility and social interaction, as well as porous surfaces and rich biodiversity. These aspects are what make our cities healthy, sustainable and pleasant. With this award, we recognize the client, the teams and the shareholders and we hope that this project will inspire a new standard for sustainable urban regeneration.
Catharijnesingel by OKRA landscape architects. Photograph courtesy of OKRA.
Catharijnesingel by OKRA landscape architects. Photograph courtesy of OKRA.
The 11th edition of the European Prize for Urban Public Space, an initiative of the Center for Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (CCCB), has had record numbers of participation and a wide representation: a total of 326 projects from 35 different countries.
The European Prize for Urban Public Space is a biennial and honorary competition that, since the year 2000, recognizes the best interventions for the creation, transformation and recovery of public spaces in European cities.
The canal is a crucial element in building urban resilience: it increases the city's ability to cope with extreme heat, storms, and flooding. The recovery of water and vegetation contributes to sequestering carbon and reducing pollution while becoming a pleasant space, for relationships with living beings and playful for the residents of the City.
The Jury considers that the intervention is part of a broader urban transformation, which addresses the future by recovering elements of the city's past. The canal has returned to its original state after being replaced for more than fifty years by a large highway. Not only does motorized traffic decrease, but also, most importantly, it prioritizes pedestrian mobility and social interaction, as well as porous surfaces and rich biodiversity. These aspects are what make our cities healthy, sustainable and pleasant. With this award, we recognize the client, the teams and the shareholders and we hope that this project will inspire a new standard for sustainable urban regeneration.
Catharijnesingel by OKRA landscape architects. Photograph courtesy of OKRA.
Catharijnesingel by OKRA landscape architects. Photograph courtesy of OKRA.
The 11th edition of the European Prize for Urban Public Space, an initiative of the Center for Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (CCCB), has had record numbers of participation and a wide representation: a total of 326 projects from 35 different countries.
The European Prize for Urban Public Space is a biennial and honorary competition that, since the year 2000, recognizes the best interventions for the creation, transformation and recovery of public spaces in European cities.
Project description by OKRA landschapsarchitect
The restoration of the last section of the Catharijnesingel includes an area of about 1.1 kilometres in length. A total of about 40,000 cubic meters of water have returned to the channel, and its total length now reaches almost six kilometres.
For the layout of the Catharijnesingel and the extension of the Zocherpark, the OKRA studio has reorganized the traffic that occupied the place, diverting cars and giving priority to pedestrians. The extensive walking route along the canal invites recreational and sports use so that visitors can stroll through meadows among works of art, numerous rest areas and a variety of plantations, each with its own species.
Water recovery is the key aspect of this project and the reason why visitors want to return to the Catharijnesingel. Whether doing aquatic activities or walking along the water's edge, a cultivated area in which the park is reflected, the inhabitants of Utrecht recover in this new space the historical relationship of the city with water and the canal.
A diverse assortment of trees—poplar, plane, prunus, and elm—connects this new park with the existing Zocherpark. In the choice of trees, OKRA has paid a lot of attention to biodiversity, such as single-flowering trees that attract bees and bumblebees. This variety, while improving biodiversity, also offers different experiences for visitors throughout the seasons.
The use of materials – clinker bricks (the ancient Rhine bricks) and gravel – creates a visual connection to the historic city centre of Utrecht. Next to the existing dock, a wooden surface can be used as a seating element, a stand or a stage, and a lower section added to the existing wooden surface is used by canoeists, paddle boarders and other recreational boats.
More information
Architects
Collaborators
Gemeente Utrecht, Witteveen+Bos, D. van der Steen BV.
Area
42,000 sqm.
Dates
2016 > 2020.
Location
Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Photography
Courtesy of OKRA landscape architects.
Martin Knuijt. OKRA landscape architects
OKRA landscape architects is a landscape architecture and urban design firm, founded by Martin Knuijt, dedicated to healthy living and a climate-adaptive public realm. Designing public space is an ongoing quest for harmony between the best solution for the demands of today and the ability to change. OKRA is specialized in the development of the urban landscape, both in planning and design.
Their assignments primarily centre on urban and urban-related projects, mainly comprising landscape architecture and urban and regional planning. They work on projects on both national and international scales and often in highly complex projects with many participants.
OKRA couples vision with strategy. They work from the vision and concept stage all the way to design and detail. They promote the notion that a truly consistent design is one in which the underlying concept must be clear in all aspects of the project, both as a whole aand in its finer details. The combination of conceptual planning and perfect implementation is central to OKRA’s core policy.
Martin Knuijt. graduated from the Wageningen University & Research with a Master in Landscape Architecture. He is the author of several publications on landscape and urban planning, published in leading European magazines. He has been a guest teacher at various universities in the Netherlands and regularly acts as a jury member. He has been keynote speaker at the IFLA Congress in Calgary, the CCCB Biennial in Barcelona, the EFLA Congress in Prague, at the 75th anniversary of the Technical University of Berlin, and at Tongji University in Shanghai. Martin Knuijt is an honourable member of the Russian Landscape Federation.
Their assignments primarily centre on urban and urban-related projects, mainly comprising landscape architecture and urban and regional planning. They work on projects on both national and international scales and often in highly complex projects with many participants.
OKRA couples vision with strategy. They work from the vision and concept stage all the way to design and detail. They promote the notion that a truly consistent design is one in which the underlying concept must be clear in all aspects of the project, both as a whole aand in its finer details. The combination of conceptual planning and perfect implementation is central to OKRA’s core policy.
Martin Knuijt. graduated from the Wageningen University & Research with a Master in Landscape Architecture. He is the author of several publications on landscape and urban planning, published in leading European magazines. He has been a guest teacher at various universities in the Netherlands and regularly acts as a jury member. He has been keynote speaker at the IFLA Congress in Calgary, the CCCB Biennial in Barcelona, the EFLA Congress in Prague, at the 75th anniversary of the Technical University of Berlin, and at Tongji University in Shanghai. Martin Knuijt is an honourable member of the Russian Landscape Federation.
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