H.W. Mesdagplein, Groningen

The first square built on all ten dimensions

In Groningen's Schildersbuurt, the H.W. Mesdagplein reopened in early 2023. It is the first square realised under New Space, the Design Guideline for Liveable Public Space that Felixx wrote for the city. Mobility had organised this square, as it organised most squares of its generation. New Space reorganises it around ten things at once, and that opens room for community life, biodiversity and green infrastructure.

Key info

Year: 2021 - 2022
Type: Public Space
Size: 4000 m2
Location: Groningen, The Netherlands
Client: Groningen municipality
Status: Realised; Awarded

Ten dimensions at once

New Space gave the project its design logic. Felixx developed it as a framework for public space, built on ten interconnected dimensions: accessibility, safety, experience, health, social, mobility, ecology, climate adaptation, economy and cultural heritage. Naming all ten at the outset changes the conversation.

The square began with the Leutje Leidraad Schildersbuurt, a future vision for this neighbourhood. Felixx made it with the Municipality of Groningen, the district council and the neighbourhood associations. It turned the ten dimensions into a strategy for these streets.

Residents then mapped the square on foot and in workshops. They named what they valued, what was missing and what the square could become. Four priorities came out of it: identity, social interaction, biodiversity and inclusivity. Those four became the brief, and they set the decisions on planting, materials, movement and programme. The design grew from that input.

Plan drawing alternative organization and strategic framework, Leutje Leidraad Schildersbuurt

A monumental layout, open-ended play

The design follows the principles set in the Leutje Leidraad. The square keeps its monumental layout: a central gathering space with movement around its edges, which carries the character of the place. Within that frame, the programme became fluid.

Open-ended play invitations — speelaanleidingen — take the place of fixed equipment. A generation of playgrounds was designed to be climbed one way; these give children something to invent with. They also link the square to the recreational routes running through the Schildersbuurt. Felixx diversified the planting around them, so the square now works for quiet encounters, for pollinators and for people stopping to talk.

A Blueprint for the District

The square also works as a climate-adaptive system. Soil and water infiltration are built into the landscape, so heavy rainfall soaks in where it falls and the local microclimate improves. Planting, soil and paving do that work together, in the same ground where children play.

The neighbourhood has taken ownership of the result. An annual funding agreement between the municipality's area team and the local associations carries the work forward. The Jozef Israëlsplein, the Taco Mesdagplein and the Melkweg are next in line for renewal, and this square sets the baseline they start from.