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In the seventeenth century this location housed a small harbour where amongst others bricks and peat were loaded and unloaded onto the Diepenring. This harbour existed until just after World War II. In 1953 ESSO built a petrol station on this spot, designed by Willem Marinus Dudok. Of the original 112 petrol pavilions he designed, spread through the Netherlands, only this Groningen one is still present in the public space.
The Dudok location is now being transformed into the first green place to stay on the Diepenring and will be an important spot for the young families and students of the adjoining Ebbinge quarter, and for inhabitants of the inner city.
In 2019 the Gemeente Groningen asked three bureaus to develop a future vision of this location. Our plan was selected. We commissioned IRIS architecten for a plan for the pavilion. Together with bureaus specialised in technical advice, we designed and constructed the large wooden duckboards landscape, creating a giant piece of furniture on the water.
The plan looks simple and clear, as if it were a coincidental little park at the Turfsingel. This, however, is the result of adding green quality, fitting in the traffic on the Turfsingel, implementing the historical values of the Boterdiep, connecting the Ebbinge quarter and the city centre, fitting in the Dudok pavilion, and connecting the square to the deeper lying water of the Diepenring. We worked according to traditional methods in applying details such as clinkers, natural stone and wood.
