E - Bike Path

The area of Houthalen – Helechteren (HH) is a combination of diverse types of morphologies, ranging from urban structures to landscapes. Nevertheless, there are three main elements that structure the area: the grid structure of industrial zones (Centrum Zuid and Europark), the organic structure of urban fabric and system of wet and dry forests that go hand in hand with the topography and that structure the environment naturally in an East-West direction. Besides, the national road ‘Grote Baan’ is a distorting infrastructural rupture that is imposed on HH.
The project aims to provide an alternative path to connect all the patchwork of Houthalen and Helchteren which Groote Baan cuts through. The new e-bike path is not just a connector but also a collector and new landscape infrastructure that structures urbanism.
As it passes through HH, the e-bike way goes through and along with the industrial, residential patches, the two town centers of Houthalen and Helchteren and crosses a green valley. Some segments are brand new (along Centrum Zuid for example), other segments recycle the typically oversized and car-based road infrastructure of HH. Brand new or recycled, the profile of the e-bike way is always a landscape.

Design: Minh Quang Nguyen
Year: 2017
Location: Houthalen-Helchteren, BelgiumType: Urbanism
Status: Hypothesis

Design E-bike Path

The Recycled Part of E-bike Path - City Center (left) Each of HH’s patches is indeed redefined by the ebikeway. The center of Houthalen (and of Helchteren) is reoriented by the introduction of the ebikeway. The ebikeway, as a ebike-infrastructure embedded in a landscape figure (parkway), is indeed inducing a new form of urbanity that combines the new strengths of HH: landscape (omni-)presence & soft mobility.

The New Part of E-bike Path - Centrum Zuid (right) Centrum Zuid is sandwiched between the coal track and ebikeway, HH’s double helix of soft mobility. Consequently, a perpendicular local bike-accessnet that limits crossings with the road net to the absolute minimum, is attached to this helix. This distorting move gives direction to the sustainable restructuring of Centrum Zuid.

A gate to Centrum Zuid
E-bike Path as a park and framework for new urban development

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