A Portrait of Dordrecht

Abstract

The starting point of the design study presented here is the question: what could be the advantage for Dordrecht if the railway would be built underground? The issues related to such an intervention are extensive, but here the accent is placed on the architectonic aspects. The railway is a remarkable artefact, which has been a determining factor for the townscape of Dordrecht. The construction of the railway and station characterized the beginning of a new period of urban development. Railway traffic was the clear and tangible visualisation of the fact that the new period was associated with a leap of technological developments, which changed the perspectives of spatial relations. The railway bridge over the Oude Maas River, the railway embankments and the station building bear witness to a new territorial order which starting with the first Memorandum on Spatial Development of the Netherlands, is presented as Randstad Holland