Museumplein is a square, city park or public space located in Amsterdam Zuid. The name originated from the famous Rijks Museum as well as several other museum that border the square such as The Stedelijk Museum , the Van Gogh Museum , the Moco Museum and the Concertgebouw.
History
In the 17th century the Museumplein was originally called Mennonietensloot and this area was used for seven windmills and several mills. In 1876, this area was demolished in order to give way to the Rijkmuseum. The Museumplein received its name in 1903 due to the rise in more upmarket construction in the area. Afetr the Second World War, the area was used as a small highway that would run through the Rijks museum passage and would lead to the connection line of The Hague. In 1992, Sven Ingvar Andersson was asked to create an open urban plan from the municipality. His design included underground parking and an underground supermarket. In the center behind the Rijksmuseum was a pond with gravel pavement all around.
Functions of the Square
Over the decades, the Museumplein has been used extensively by residents and tourists as a place to recreate and rest. The grass planes, invite to play football, frisbee, picnic as well as pettanque underneath the trees. Since the last redesign there in a basketball court as well as halfpipe that has been used extensively.
History
In the 17th century the Museumplein was originally called Mennonietensloot and this area was used for seven windmills and several mills. In 1876, this area was demolished in order to give way to the Rijkmuseum. The Museumplein received its name in 1903 due to the rise in more upmarket construction in the area. Afetr the Second World War, the area was used as a small highway that would run through the Rijks museum passage and would lead to the connection line of The Hague. In 1992, Sven Ingvar Andersson was asked to create an open urban plan from the municipality. His design included underground parking and an underground supermarket. In the center behind the Rijksmuseum was a pond with gravel pavement all around.
Functions of the Square
Over the decades, the Museumplein has been used extensively by residents and tourists as a place to recreate and rest. The grass planes, invite to play football, frisbee, picnic as well as pettanque underneath the trees. Since the last redesign there in a basketball court as well as halfpipe that has been used extensively.
Personal Evaluation
The Museumplein is famous in Amsterdam where many events can occur from massive football finals to small personal activities that take place. Often walking around this area, you can see it come to life with people socialising, children playing games and dogs running about. The area comes across as a safe place to relax as you can find people mediating, exercising and perhaps sleeping. I enjoy walking past this square as i live close to it myself. What i enjoy about it is that you can see people enjoying themselves throughout the seasons. There is always something happening there.
The reason that I chose this example is due to the fact that, there is also a car park underneath as well as a supermarket, which is in a way similar to Schouwburgplein. Having a car park beneath is a design limitation due to the weight that the parking below can withstand. I wanted to see how and why this area is successful and how can I translate certain patterns that I see here into Schouwburgplein. Walking around I could see several patterns such as Tree Places, Activity Pockets, Something Roughly in The Middle, Paths and Goals.
The reason that I chose this example is due to the fact that, there is also a car park underneath as well as a supermarket, which is in a way similar to Schouwburgplein. Having a car park beneath is a design limitation due to the weight that the parking below can withstand. I wanted to see how and why this area is successful and how can I translate certain patterns that I see here into Schouwburgplein. Walking around I could see several patterns such as Tree Places, Activity Pockets, Something Roughly in The Middle, Paths and Goals.
At the Museumplein there are a few trees that are placed close to the edges of the space. I found that some of the trees were placed without coherence in the space. It felt that the trees weren't being used to their strongest value and advantage, especially in the image below by the pond. There were no benches around the trees to provide comfort on the gravelled ground. In the second image, the trees were placed along the path which created a tunnel effect in which the eye would gaze towards the Rijks museum. In these spaces in Image 2 you can often find people reading and meditating as well as picnics. Overall, felt that the landscape designers didn't really successfully use trees to the greatest advantage and just placed them as a necessity.
The Museumplein also has several long paths that connect to each activity pocket. The grass area can some what feel a little empty in the middle as there are just paths the cross it. I feel that if there was another element in the middle of the grassy planes it would attract people there as a meeting place before carrying on with other activities. However, I feel that they did not add something in the middle due to keeping it open for large amounts of people for festivals and events. It was interesting to see how people really stuck to the path that was laid out for them.