The BunkerPark - Eindhoven
The monumental Bunker by Huig Maaskant has been thoroughly renovated and expanded with an impressive residential tower and a green, climate-adaptive park. For years, the Bunker was the vibrant centre of student life in Eindhoven. The renovation will give this place a second life: the BunkerToren and the surrounding BunkerPark will give a new impetus to the neighbourhood and the city.
The original Bunker was a legendary, brutalist building in Eindhoven by legendary reconstruction architect Maaskant. Thanks to Bunkertoren, the building has been preserved. Our design for the Bunkertoren builds on Maaskant’s design vocabulary, paying homage to both the building and the original architect.
– Nanne de Ru, Powerhouse Company
A healthy, green environment
With the BunkerToren and its associated park, we show that it is possible to significantly green an inner-city location and make it climate-adaptive, while at the same time responding to the major housing challenge. The BunkerPark is an important element in the design, reinforcing the three green axes that characterise the city of Eindhoven.
DELVA transformed the existing parking facility into a spacious public park, enhancing the liveability of the building and the surrounding neighbourhood. The visual language of the BunkerToren continues into the park, for example in the design of the benches. The greenery around (and on) the building serves as a water buffer while contributing to biodiversity through the use of native plants and trees.
With the BunkerToren and its associated park, we show that it is possible to significantly green an inner-city location and make it climate-adaptive, while at the same time also responding to the major housing challenge.
– Steven Delva, DELVA Landscape Architecture & Urbanism
BunkerPark is a park for new and existing residents of the neighbourhood
The immediate vicinity of the BunkerToren consisted of a car park. Besides adding a lot of new living space to the city on this site, DELVA’s design ensures that the outdoor space is greatly greened. A park will be created to generate quality of life at ground level. That means the park is not just for BunkerToren residents but will be a park for the surrounding area, for people from the neighbourhood. This will give the existing residents of the neighbourhood a park and give the new residents of the BunkerToren the feeling of really living in that green-blue structure of Eindhoven.
The BunkerPark as a part of the Dommelvallei
The park provides greening by building on the existing quality of greenery, existing trees and the characteristics of the Dommelvallei. Thus, 20-23,000 perennials will be added and more than 50 -largely native- new trees will be planted in the park alone.
Climate-adaptive and nature-inclusive park
Rainwater is collected on the green roofs. Excess water is collected in an indoor buffer to irrigate the integrated greenery on the terraces from there. When water is abundant, it is discharged into wadis at ground level. The water is not drained directly through pipes here but is given the chance to infiltrate into the soil. This makes the BunkerPark with its native plants and trees not only a pleasant space but also a valuable place to stay for new and existing residents.
In the video below, landscape architect Steven Delva (DELVA) talks more about the design and construction of the BunkerPark.
The BunkerToren is a new icon for the city of Eindhoven. The Bunker designed by Huig Maaskant has been restored to its former glory and forms the basis of the design of the 100m-high tower. The tower houses 210 rental and owner-occupied units. BunkerToren is a development by RED Company and Being and built by van Wijnen. The tower was designed by Powerhouse Company. Het landschap is naar ontwerp van DELVA Landscape Architecture / Urbanism. The video was made by Marcel IJzerman.
- Location
- Eindhoven
- Status
- Implemented
- Client
- RED Company, Being Development
- Together with
- Powerhouse Company, Deerns, IMD and BOOT.
- Fotografie
- Sebastiaan van Damme, Video: Marcel Ijzerman