Emmen | Centrumsplein, Marktplein, Boulevard Noord

Emmen | Centrumsplein, Marktplein, Boulevard Noord

The municipality of Emmen, in the southeast of the Dutch province Drente, has renewed the infrastructure of their city center via several sub-projects in recent years. The projects Boulevard Noord, the Marktplein, and the Centrumsplein were designed by Studio DL and completed in 2015.

The landscape architecture firm Latz und Partner, from Kranzberg near Munich, won the competition to design the Centrumplein, and the team from Studio DL was invited to develop individual elements for a concept for the urban nightscape.

In planning the various urban spaces, care was taken to make each space special and distinctive while also keeping the project as a whole in view. Since Emmen‘s size and location combine urban as well as rural characteristics, natural elements were showcased as part of the city‘s Urban Code. For example, on the Marktplein, lights were placed at different heights so that the foliage of the trees cast different shadows each day. On the Centrumsplein, each individual light can be controlled in the water feature so different scenarios and performances between light and water can be programmed. In this way, suggestions of water lily blossoms or a school of fish, for example, can be evoked. Many of these elements can now be discovered in Emmen.

The center of Emmen has acquired a modern yet natural as well as recognizable night image which gives lasting strength to the identity of the city.