CYCLE SPACE

Petra Appelhof

For numerous reasons – climate change and Covid-19 among them – the world is witnessing a rise in cycling. How might our newfound pedal power affect spatial design, from the buildings we frequent to the wider city beyond?

Words Tracey Ingram

BICYCLE PARKING, UTRECHT

With a gross floor plan of 21,373 m2, the three-storey bicycle parking at Utrecht Central Station in the Netherlands is currently the biggest of its kind. In order to achieve the project’s goals of convenience, speed and safety in a facility of this scale, Ector Hoogstad Architecten enabled cyclists to pedal all the way up to their parking space. Additional facilities include a cycle repair shop and rental kiosk. Stairwells and tunnels connect directly to the square, main terminal building and platforms above. ectorhoogstad.com

I’ve lived in both Auckland and Amsterdam, two places that couldn’t differ more when it comes to transportation. The car reigns supreme in New Zealand’s most populous city, its urban sprawl connected by busy roads and motorways with barely a bike lane in sight. The Dutch capital, on the other hand, ranks second only to Copenhagen in the world’s most bicycle-friendly cities. But even in automobile-oriented environments, current events – namely the Covid-19 crisis and climate change – are inspiring a two-wheeler wave. During lockdown, 17 km of temporary cycle lanes were installed across the Auckland region, for instance – much of the space siphoned from car parks. Closures and/or reductions of public transport services – as well as the appeal of travelling out in the fresh air instead of in cramped compartments – make bike sharing an attractive alternative: NYC Citi Bike, for example, saw a demand surge of 67 per cent in March, while some governments offered essential workers personal access to bikes from shared fleets. Amsterdam-based bike-subscription service Swapfiets – whose users pay a monthly fee for a rental that’s promptly replaced if the bike is stolen or damaged – gained a large rise in users, too, with 42 per cent of new customers citing the pandemic as their reason for signing up. The company has plans to expand into London, Milan and Paris. Bikes aren’t just seizing space once dedicated to cars, either. London’s Selfridges is selling cycling as an aspirational lifestyle trend by offering up premium retail space to the cause. For a month during the summer, its Corner Shop – which housed pop-ups from luxury brands Burberry and Gucci earlier in the year – became the ‘bike shop of the future’. It presented a range of more traditional models alongside e-bikes and e-motorbikes that were later moved to a permanent location within the department store. Selfridges even freed up part of its car park for customers to take test drives. Speaking to the sustainable aspects of cycling, The Bike Shop also hosted a world-first workshop for making a personalized 100 per cent bamboo bike. ‘There couldn’t be a better time to open The Bike Shop at Selfridges,’ Rob Smith of project partner Smartech said in a statement. ‘As we emerge from lockdown, we’ve seen an increased focus on health and wellness, looking after the environment, and, most importantly, safety.’ Freitag’s first Amsterdam flagship, on the other hand, opened in September and combines retail and rental, selling its wares alongside rentable bikes and bike bags. Aside from commanding more visible retail territory, how might the rise of personal mobility affect spatial design, from the buildings we inhabit to our neighbourhoods and the wider city beyond? First of all, if city streets are to become more liveable – a topic we scrutinized in Frame 136 – we can’t leave our cycles strewn across the sidewalks. Lessons for how storage spaces can help to incentivize cycling are numerous in the Netherlands, where bikes outnumber people. Providing more bicycle parking is part of the government’s long-term bicycle plan towards 2022, and the results thus far go beyond the archetypal underground garage to become destinations in their own right. Take Silo and Studio Marsman’s lightfilled project in The Hague. ‘We set out to radically change the expectations of what a basement parking space can be like,’ says Rene Toneman, Silo’s creative director. He believes the project’s interior design and spatial identity ‘have such an impact that the windowless space does not seem to be underground’. The museum-like environment references famed Dutch artist M.C. Escher, with a metamorphosing light wall that weaves together The Hague-specific architectural motifs. Toneman says that ‘adding a narrative defines the parking garage as a destination. It has become a place you want to visit, even if you’re not parking your bike there. The effect will only be stronger once the ground-level developments – residential towers, retail and public square – are completed.’ Facilities like that in The Hague, which is located in front of the city’s central train station, are designed to serve those commuting to other cities. But what about the other end of the journey? How could the bicycling boom affect our residences, for example? Paolo Trevisan, head of design at Pininfarina of America, which has designed transportation solutions both in the US and abroad, believes the answer lies in flexibility. For its Cyrela residential project in São Paulo, the firm designed an easily adaptable parking garage. The idea is that some spaces can transition into bike lanes and storage areas or charging stations for electric scooters or Segways as the need arises. ‘Like many cities, São Paulo wasn’t initially designed to support personal or micro mobility,’ says Trevisan, ‘but it has since invested considerably in developing bike lanes and enforcing safety measures »

THE BIKE SHOP, LONDON From Burberry to Gucci to . . . bicycles? By bringing ‘the bike shop of the future’ to its Corner Shop – a space that hosted pop-ups from the aforementioned luxury fashion houses earlier this year – Selfridges in London is promoting cycling as an aspirational lifestyle trend. A partnership with Smartech, the pop-up presented a range of more traditional models alongside e-bikes and e-motorbikes that were later moved to a permanent location within the department store. selfridges.com