The Cultural Pillars of Zundert
The Molenstraat is the main street of Zundert. It has had a very high traffic pressure for years and therefore a minimal of spatial quality. The recent construction of the ring road has reduced car and truck traffic in Molenstraat.
[Delacourt] [vanbeek] was asked to translate this traffic engineering design into a spatial design for the Molenstraat and three adjacent squares. The explicit question was to increase the visibility in public space of the cultural pillars - the flower parade, Vincent van Gogh and the arboriculture sector.
Planters for the arboriculture sector
The Molenstraat is now designed as a bicycle street. The sidewalks are on level with the roadway and are separated by a simple drain. Parking spaces are subtly marked. By limiting the use of space for the car, more space has been created for pedestrians, retailers and terraces.
Due to the annual flower parade, the street must be completely free of obstacles and it is not possible to plant trees. Planters were chosen to make one of the pillars of Zundert culture, the tree cultivation sector visible and to give the street a greener character. The 50 planters are specially designed for this project, together they create a green image with great (bio) diversity.
The street furniture is related to each other. The coherence is expressed in the design language, color and use of materials (gray powder-coated steel and natural wood).
80 winning parade titles
The space in front of the church and the cultural center will become one square together. It has been given an informal character with attention for the Corso. The planters in the Molenstraat are transformed on the square into friendly furniture (village table, seating elements, podium). Here, every winning float from the history of the flower parade will be given a place in the form of a corten steel strip measuring 80x15 cm. These eighty strips are incorporated into the paving between the furniture. Between the tree tubs there is room for the terraces of the adjacent hotel and the cultural center.
Vincent van Gogh
On the square is the Protestant church where Vincent's father was the sacristan. Next to the church is the old sexton's house. An artist-in-residence workplace has been created on this site, with a guest house and gallery in the house. In the center of the square is the statue “Vincent and Theo” by Gossip Zadkine.
The square consists of a number of green shards. These shards are slightly elevated from ground level and are covered with grass and trees. They make the height difference of 2.5 meters legible. The edges of the shards are shaped by broad concrete sitting edges. This seating edge and information carrier contains a tube of sand from Saint-Remy-de-Provence, an important place in the history of van Gogh.
The Markt has a more formal look. The stately town hall gets all the attention due to the symmetrical placement of the lampposts and slates. There is space for seating elements between the masts. By extending the row of masts across the street, the motorist has the feeling of being a guest on the square. The town hall has a specialization in the sidewalk of recycled natural stone. On the square, the portrait of Vincent van Gogh has been laid in the pavement as a mosaic (30 x 30 meters). The portrait can be clearly read from the top floor of the painter's birthplace (van GoghHuis). At ground level, the portrait is present as a pleasant mixed mix of brown tones.
