green valve -
What is interesting, is that Berlage's strip between the two residential districts, is now taken as a basis to be reinvented as a green valve for the inner city of Groningen (see 'the Stad van Straks'). Functionally programmed in 1928 to consist of industry, using the canal as infrastructure, the strip is now reconsidered to become a green park-strip, widened at the study area, linking the suburban Kardinge recreational area with the city centre.
This site where two water systems cross, combined with a new bridge, builds up an innovative image of live-work in a cleaner modern urban environment; the face for the districts behind. It is the link of interrelated-opposites; urban high powered business on one side, and the release of this energy into recreational activities - such as walks or cycle-rides from the city along the green valve - on the other.


in between program -
Over the last decennia the move from manufacturing- towards service-related industries no longer dictates the modern principle of strict separation into zones between work and living. Working and living can now be mixed in an urban or residential environment, bringing new qualities and variety, creating a new hybrid; an in-between form of work and living, combining qualities from both sub-urban living and urbanity into one.