Eindhoven's Interesting Architecture

As you leave Eindhoven's unusual underground bicycle park at 18 Septemberplein, you find this equally unusual glass structure also in the shadow of the Philips factory.

 

As of August 2010, this glass building is still unfinished, although it looks like it could be completed fairly soon and will probably be a retail store. This striking structure marks the start of a new shopping street called Nieuwe Emmasingel. The shopping precinct is managed by Admirant.

The brown brick building immediately behind the glass structure is called 'de Admirant' and appears to be a newly restored office/factory building. According to the history page of Admirant's website, this area was part of the Philips complex of factories and offices.

The ground floor of de Admirant is occupied by Douwe Egberts; the Dutch leading coffee maker, and is operated as a Starbucks-style coffee shop under the Douwe Egberts Koffie & Kado brand.

The store sells coffee, tea and light snacks, very much in the way Starbucks stores are operated.

Customers can find virtually everything connected with the making and serving of coffee and tea. To say that the selection of tea and coffee related products is vast is an understatement.

One thing that customers seemingly cannot get, however, is a cup of coffee to take away in a Starbucks-style paper cup.  It has been rumored that Dutch resistance to Starbucks opening retail stores in the Netherlands was been attributed to the Starbucks business model, which relies heavily on take-away sales. The Dutch coffee industry appears to prefer customers to consume coffee on premises and thereby encourages a more sociable cafe lifestyle. It's a rumor and I have no idea whether there's any truth to it. Equally, the absence of paper cups at Douwe Egberts Koffi-Kado may be simply because the store had just opened when I visited it.

STOP PRESS - The paper cup rumor is nonsense. See latest post.

18 Septemberplein, Eindhoven

An interesting solution to a common problem...

18 Septemberplein in Eindhoven is the square at the north end of Eindhoven's fashionable central shopping district. It is the location of the Piazza shopping mall and the prestigious department store, 'de Bijenkorf.'

In 2007 an extensive excavation started in the square, revealing the remnants of old Eindhoven structures but also raising the question, why? Why was a fairly major excavation going on? What was the purpose?

The only clues were artist's impressions of what appeared to be a pair of tubular entrances/exits to some sort of underground passage. When I returned to Eindhoven in 2010, the construction had been recently completed but (above), but still provided little if any clue as to its purpose, so being naturally inquisitive, I took a closer look.

The sight of a motorcycle didn't seem strange, one sees motorcycles and bicycles everywhere in the Netherlands, and Eindhoven is no exception.

But when the rider got off his motorcycle and walked it onto the escalator, I did think that was a little strange - if it was an underpass, why not drive through? All was about to become clear...

As we neared the end of our descent, we appeared to be entering a vast underground cycle park.

If you click on the photos, you can see them in greater detail. This place was massive!

It really was very impressive, and as I wandered around the place, it was clear that the problems of where to store bikes so that they don't create the typical unsightly messes, and also provide safe storage where bicycles cannot be stolen, was solved. Albeit at vast expense!

In the center of the underground bicycle park, some of the excavated ruins from old Eindhoven had been preserved.

Of course, as one leaves the cavern, ascending the escalator on the west side, one cannot fail to be impressed by the way that the old Philips factory comes into view.

If the underground bicycle park wasn't impressive enough, another interesting and almost as puzzling building meets you at the top of the escalator. See the next post.