ABSTRACT
Rawie's poem, written on the occasion of the official opening of the newly built Waagstraatcomplex in 1996, argues that the location in the city centre of Groningen, where the Waagstraatcomplex is now, has always housed the spirit of Groningen, city and surroundings. Lynch defined urban imagery as 'the perception of the city held by urban populations'. The population of Groningen was presented with four submitted designs for the Waagstraat location and the associated planning proposals for the entire public space of the Grote Markt. These were the plans of the offices of the architects Jo Coenen, Gunnar Daan, Adolfo Natalini and Coen van Velsen. In 1994 Rob Staal took the initiative and developed plans for a restoration of the hall of the Groninger Hoofdstation. According to Dijkstra & Akkerman, the recent interest in buildings like the Groninger Hoofdstation is influenced by the revival of the valuation of art from the nineteenth century that has taken place in The Netherlands lately.
