Brandevoort Helmond, historicism and New Urbanism

North of the village of Mierlo in the Dutch Campine, once lay a vast moor that was gradually brought under cultivation during the latter part of the middle ages. The trees and bushes were cleared, small streams were excavated to provide better drainage and people settled on sandy elevation known as "donk". The formerly boggy conditions became fixed in the local place names with either the suffix -broek (Berenbroek, Diepenbroek, Kranenbroek and the singular 't Broek) or the suffix -voort (Medervoort and Brandevoort). The resulting landscape was a patchwork of enclosed fields around clusters of farms interspersed by oak coppice, meadows and wasteland with rushes and Sweet gale on wetter ground.

After the town of Helmond had been designated a nucleus for growth it needed more room for the planned expansion. So in 1968 Helmond annexed the independent village of Stiphout, and the village of 't Hout (literally at the Wood) from Mierlo for urban expansion westward across the Goorloop stream, as well as the hamlet of Rijpelberg from Bakel and the village of Brouwhuis from Deurne en Vlierden for expansion in the east. It was decided in 1995 that the sparsely populated area west of what was then known as Helmond-'t Hout en south of Stiphout would be the best site for future expansion. The site was elevated to a Vinex-location. Vinex is the shortened acronym for Vierde Nota Ruimtelijke Ordening Extra (best translated as Forth Memorandum on Spatial Planning Extra). Vinex is a policy briefing note of the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment released in 1988, which designated large outer city areas for large-scale development for housing and some employment areas.

In 1996 the city of Helmond starts to draw up plans for this large new development that will mean Mierlo becomes attached to Helmond. The new development is also larger in area and projected number of residents than the village of Mierlo itself. As Helmond prides itself at being at the forefront in urban planning and architecture, the council invites Rob Krier -an exponent of New Urbanism- to draw up the master plan. His firm of Krier and Kohl also designed Haverleij in Bois-le-Duc, The Citadel in Heemskerk, De Oevers in Roelofarendsveen, The Waterfront in Dalfsen and Gildenkwartier in Amersfoort. Their designs are known for a focus on the pre-industrial city as the favoured spatial and visual model for new developments. As such these projects belong to the aesthetic vein of Postmodernism.

The Vinex-location of Brandevoort (in orange) within the context of Helmond (H), 't Hout (tH) and its "new-town garden village" Brouwhuis (B), and the villages of Aarle-Rixtel (A), Stiphout (S) and Mierlo (M). The large employment areas are typical of centralised Dutch urban planning focussed on compact settlements.

The master plan for over 6.000 new homes for some 17.000 residents and three industrial estates was structured as a central urban core with suburban sections around it that would tie in the new development into pre-existing suburban developments of neighbouring Helmond-'t Hout, Ganzenwinkel and Mierlo. The urban core was proposed as a small fortified city with canals. Developing the site meant that as compensation for the loss of permeable soil more surface water had to be provided. This is known in the Netherlands as hydrologically neutral development and has been practices for centuries. If one wants to develop a wet site or a site in the floodplain, one has to create more space for water, not less (!), to prevent future flooding. As a wet site (Brandevoort means as much as ford near a bog where peat is cut) provisions had to be made for additional surface water as two streams would have to be incorporated to prevent a nearby wetland nature reserve from drying up. 

The site was in part chosen as it was bisected by the existing Eindhoven - Venlo railway. Around a new train station for the commuter train Deurne - Eindhoven the urban core was projected with the moated "city" to the south and a high density extension directly to the north. Further north a three-part business park was projected towards the Eindhoven - Helmond dual carriageway. South, east and west of the "city moat" several suburban neighbourhoods were drawn; each resembling a garden village in layout. To ensure variety numerous architects have been employed to design the houses to be built by a consortium of developers. This sounds like a logical step, but the underlying reason is that thus the whole project can be divided amongst the several developers, that can each employ their own team of architects.

Work started in 2000 and is supposed to finish in 2022 (pre-downturn this was expected to be 2017). The train station Helmond-Brandevoort opened in 2006. At the same time the residents of 't Hout voted to rename their suburb to Mierlo-Hout to reflect the historic ties with neighbouring Mierlo. The name of the train station -opened in 1992- remains Helmond - 't Hout. A ring road for Helmond is also part of the plan for Brandevoort. The connection to the A270 dual carriageway was completed as part of the first building phase of the first phase of development. The housing followed the building of the road and water infrastructure. In 2011 the second connection on the A270 was opened as part of the last building phase of phase 1. The second phase of the development has started and will see the development of more housing and the business park.

Brandevoort is seen as the best example of New Urbanism in the Netherlands. The planners combined the cornerstones of Dutch planning (i.e. compactness by intensive land-use, mixed housing in type and tenure, clear zoning of functions, maximum permeability for slow traffic, counteracting through traffic in residential areas by a hierarchal road system and including surface water and the drainage system from the beginning) with the aesthetic approach of Postmodernism by consciously avoiding functionalism in the design of public spaces and buildings. The design follows the modernist urban fields approach and combines it with the German green fingers approach. The result are clearly defined (sub)urban areas both spatially and stylistically. Each area has been given a narrowly described profile concerning type of housing, building height, appearance, materials to be used and streetscape. These profiles are captioned under a theme, making this development a dream for both developers and real estate agents as they can market an ideal and provide a sense of choice within concise  parameters, something most consumers prefer.

The layout of Brandevoort consist of the central urban core where the facilities will be located: "De Veste". This name meaning "fortification" evokes the theme of the urban core of the development, which aims to give the impression of a 17th century fortified city complete witch canals and historicising architecture. In the marketing Brandevoort is portrayed as an ideal new village, probably as marketing people have been used to doing so for all Vinex-locations.  This central city has a central square, canal, gate buildings and walls with a moat. The street names are also historicising with the central square named Plaetse (literally Place) a name historically linked to a village green in Brabant. Also some narrow city streets were named avenue (Biezenlaan, Statenlaan, Middellaan and Herenlaan) which is another misnomer as an avenue is a wide tree lined street in an urban context. This fake historic town is however well-designed with pleasant streets and public spaces and a well-defined edge and entrances. The urban core north of the station is yet to be built; it will reference 19th century urban extensions. The idea is to produce monumental and stately houses here.

Brandevoort with its themed urban field ach consisting of a certain type of housing that references a historic style and/or type of buildings. The plan comprises of six "Buitens" and two high-density areas: Schutsboom (1), Brand (2), Stepekolk (3), Hazenwinkel (4), Liverdonk (5), Kranenbroek (6), and the urban core of the Veste (7) with De Marke (8) north of the station. Along the dual carriageway (A270) a business park (9) will be developed. The Schootse Loop (SL) a small stream is incorporated into the plan as well as a power line (PL) that was moved to run along a belt road. A medieval chapel of St Anthony (C) was incorporated into the first of the Buitens. Brandevoort sits next to Mierlo-'t Hout (MH), Ganzewinkel (GW) and on the other side of the Eindhoven Shipping Canal (E) Mierlo-North (MN).

The urban core is surrounded on most sides by suburban sections known as Buitens, each separated by green fingers where the landscape can penetrate up to the moat and wetlands around the urban core. Each suburban section is an urban field with a specific theme that translates into a specific type of architecture. Spatially these suburban areas are fairly similar. In places older buildings have been incorporated into these urban fields. This is very notably the case in Schutsboom, Stepekolk and Brand (the old farms of Brandevoort). The name Buiten is actually a misappropriation here as it normally refers to a country estate and not a suburban housing estate.

Each suburban section is filled with a certain type of nostalgic architecture. The Schutsboom Estate was the first of these "Buitens" to be developed. The buildings reference vernacular architecture of the 1920s and 1930s. A small extension has been developed with houses resembling  thatched farms. The neighbouring Brand Estate is characterised by so-called colonial housing in a New-Holland style with balconies weather boarded facades and porches. In Stepekolk all houses have red tiled roofs on low buildings that reference historic farms. The effect is very similar to the Alt Siedlung Friedrich Heinrich in Kamp-Linfort (built from 1907 onwards). The "Buitens" of Hazenwinkel, Liverdonk and Kranenbroek are yet to be built. Liverdonk will be the first. Here semidetached and terraced housing and some apartments will be developed in an effort to create a small town feel, inspired by the historic town of Thorn. Neigbouring Kranenbroek Estate will be developed with similar housing but with higher buildings that will often have white facades. Hazenwinkel will be developed with low farm-like housing in two neighbourhoods around a central park.  

The biggest problem with these centrally planned housing projects is that savvy developers had started buying land at the proposed sites before the decisions were finalised by central government. This takes many years of consultation after all, and developers can act quickly in buying (an option on) land. The city of Helmond forced the developers to trade their land for development rights, so the local authorities could keep a tight rein on the project. The result is a very controlled development with clear quality control.