adding to the urban fabric of Rotterdam April 2010
The aim of this project is the design of a well-known building type : a city block. The proposed scheme should not just fit into the given area of Rotterdam but also be a prototype that enriches its urban surroundings in any urban space it‘s placed.
Laurenskwartier/Binnenrotte is the physical heart of the city as it is where river Rotte used to be. The river was filled in 1871 and made room for a railway viaduct. The latter was replaced by an underground tunnel in 1993 and a long new public space was created. When Rotterdam’s centre moved to the west and Laurenskwartier was neglected until now, that current development plans are running.
The proposed urban fabric is a promenade-like scheme which highlights the direction of Binnenrotte’ s axis, allows the flow to and from the market and connect visually and in real Blaak Station and Jacobsplaats with a designed pedestrian way. A linked hybrid complex which creates a porous urban space inviting and open to the public. An open city within a city which promotes interactive relations and encourages encounters in the public and semi-public spaces as they are not dis-contiguous from the private ones. This urban fabric has a structured framework that acts like an envelope, an "aviary for the future." It encloses the living and working spaces without being hermetic and prohibitive to changes. The layout of the blocks can be done progressively by adding cells depending on the current needs of the city. This means also that the construction can be done in stages during time without the project risking to be an unified whole. The frame gives the limits of height, volume, distance from the surroundings, street limits, the relation between the different units, safeguard view axes and the position of the circulation cores.
http://issuu.com/deda13/docs/booklet_com
Laurenskwartier/Binnenrotte is the physical heart of the city as it is where river Rotte used to be. The river was filled in 1871 and made room for a railway viaduct. The latter was replaced by an underground tunnel in 1993 and a long new public space was created. When Rotterdam’s centre moved to the west and Laurenskwartier was neglected until now, that current development plans are running.
The proposed urban fabric is a promenade-like scheme which highlights the direction of Binnenrotte’ s axis, allows the flow to and from the market and connect visually and in real Blaak Station and Jacobsplaats with a designed pedestrian way. A linked hybrid complex which creates a porous urban space inviting and open to the public. An open city within a city which promotes interactive relations and encourages encounters in the public and semi-public spaces as they are not dis-contiguous from the private ones. This urban fabric has a structured framework that acts like an envelope, an "aviary for the future." It encloses the living and working spaces without being hermetic and prohibitive to changes. The layout of the blocks can be done progressively by adding cells depending on the current needs of the city. This means also that the construction can be done in stages during time without the project risking to be an unified whole. The frame gives the limits of height, volume, distance from the surroundings, street limits, the relation between the different units, safeguard view axes and the position of the circulation cores.
http://issuu.com/deda13/docs/booklet_com
Tools for Design and Composition Studio * TU Delft * individual project