Dudok’s post-war reconstruction plan
On 7 May 1945, architect W.M. Dudok was hired by the municipality to draw up a general plan for the post-war reconstruction of the city. He presented his plan on 7 January 1946.
It included a new traffic artery following the route of the anti-tank ditch and designed to resemble the broad, landscaped American ‘parkways’. On a site beside this new highway, where the villas of Zorgvliet had once stood, he proposed building a major cultural complex including a theatre, concert hall, university and conference centre.
At the end of that year, people flocked to the Kunstmuseum to attend an exhibition presenting the proposed reconstruction of the city and including a model of the entire plan.