Eindhoven Stationsplein – the grey still life that has hardly changed in decades – will undergo a drastic metamorphosis starting in 2026. Trees, benches and the ‘reborn’ little Gender river must ensure that you are not only coming and going but also want to stay a little longer at the station area.
The square that hardly changed for decades will suddenly undergo a major overhaul as of 2026. “We may not even recognise it again afterwards”, Alderman Rik Thijs predicts. As far as he is concerned, nobody needs to grieve about this, because according to him the changes will only benefit the city, residents and passengers alike. Rocks and asphalt will make way for greenery, trees and sitting areas. The taxis and kiss & ride zone will move to the edge of the square. The bicycles – for years the thorn in the side of many an Eindhovener – will go to the basement below the square. The return of Gender river at the ‘head’ of the square should provide an extra impulse for the ‘green’ transformation.
It is remarkable that the municipality is announcing the plans for the square so early in the day, four years before the first shovel goes into the ground. “Many of the parties involved in the transformation of the entire station area want to know what the public space will look like”, Alderman Thijs explains. “But that public space will only be available once the surrounding high-rise buildings (residential towers District E to the west and the Edge office zone to the east of the station) are completed”. According to the Alderman, there is no need to worry that all those high-rise buildings will take away too much sunlight from the greenery in the new Stationsplein. “We have shown with the Clausplein that we are now perfectly capable of developing a beautiful piece of nature in the city centre. It will be no different here”.
Bicycle shelter
The refurbishment of Stationsplein will begin in 2026 with the construction of the underground bicycle shelter, which will provide space for ten thousand bicycles and will relieve the station entrance of the clutter that has characterised it for so long. The small river De Gender – already exposed in the Emmakwadrant/Victoriaplein area – will also return to the station zone. “We let it rise again from the 18Septemberplein and it will continue to flow where it meets the Dommel river again”, Thijs explains.
Statue of Anton
A conspicuous absentee from the future impressions is Anton Philips, who has been the face of Stationsplein for the past few decades. “We are going to move him a bit”, Thijs says. “To the side of the station. A place in the flow of passenger traffic, where he will be at least as good as he is now”.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Bob
