The design for Poortersplein 23, Groningen
In June 2023 Nijestee, a housing company in Groningen, asked me to make a mural on the outside wall of Poortersplein 23. Well, this seemed like a cool project to me! After meeting with resident Eddy Taatgen I started designing right away. He was very enthusiastic with the result, so this was a good beginning!
Then the next phase: getting the wall ready. For an outside wall this is a different story than for an inside wall. There’s weather influences, but also the height and surroundings play their part.
It took some time figuring out what materials to use and figuring out the right conditions. What kind of cherry-picker should I use? What kind of paint? Thinking about pricing, etcetera.
Then there was also this building company that was renovating the building. I had to make sure they wouldn’t impregnate the wall with a water-resistant coating. Because then my paint would just fall right off the wall…
Finally at last every question mark has gotten an answer, and now we have to wait for good weather conditions. My expectation is that this will be in spring 2024.
Explaining the design:
For more than 2,5 century there was a gate-keepers house standing by the water, right before the entrance into the city. You could only get in after paying. Unfortunately this house didn’t survive the second world war. The Dutch word for gate-keeper is ‘poortwachter’, and a square is called ‘plein’. Hence the name of the street: Poortersplein.
Want to read more about it? Here (it’s in Dutch).
Poortershuis (Gate-keepers house)
Then there is the garden of Hommes, situated between the Poortersplein and the Nieuweweg. The garden was designed around 1850 by gardenarchitect Lambertus Vlaskamp. He was the father of Gerrit Vlaskamp who designed several gardens, one of which is Park Groenestein in Groningen. There’s only a very small piece left of this garden of Hommes now.
Want to read more about this? You can do so HERE and HERE (in Dutch).
