AMSTERDAM H-BUURT

SCALES — S - Urban architecture LOCATION — H-Buurt POPULATION — City 835,000 inhab. STRATEGIC SITE — 36 ha / PROJECT SITE — 2.9 ha SITE PROPOSED BY — City of Amsterdam OWNER OF THE SITE — Gemeente Amsterdam POST-COMPETITION PHASE — Assignment to make urban design guidelines for the project site and urban plan

Sabine Lebesque — Department of City Development, City of Amsterdam. Investors Office for Housing/ Team Spatial Quality

1. WHAT ARE THE GOALS OF THE SITE MUTATION? The H-Buurt location is currently holding two parking lots buildings which will be removed by the City to make space for a new development. The rapidly changing housing market in Amsterdam is even influencing the poorest neighbourhoods like H-Buurt. But instead of changing every location into housing, here the intention is to make space for small production spaces, giving possibilities to start something up for people of the neighbourhood. This is combined with some housing.

2. HOW CAN THE SITE BE INTEGRATED IN THE ISSUES OF PRODUCTIVE CITIES? HOW DO YOU CONSIDER THE PRODUCTIVITY ISSUE? Space for productivity is crucial in the empowerment of the H-Buurt. This can be a mix of small offices, artisanship, catering, cars etc.

3. HAVE YOU ALREADY DEFINED A SPECIFIC PROCESS FOR THE URBAN AND/OR ARCHITECTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE AFTER EUROPAN? The local municipality, responsible for this site, is planning to ask the winners of the Europan competition to take part in the further development of the masterplan. The first steps will be to develop a phased strategy. The project will start after some political decisions that have to take place this spring.

Foam of Production

AUTHOR(S) — Timur Shabaev (NL), Architect; Timur Karimullin (NL), Architect-urbanist CONTRIBUTOR(S) — Sofia Koutsenko (US), Architect; Maria Krasnova (NL), Artist; Kristina Knauf (DE), Urbanist CONTACT — DROM, Rotterdam (NL) T. +31 639621566 office@d-r-o-m.com www.d-r-o-m.com AMSTERDAM H-BUURT (NL) — WINNER

TEAM POINT OF VIEW — The functionalist CIAM principles come to life in the model city of Bijlmer, which exemplified the triumph of simple efficiency in times of stability. The movement could not foresee the heightened efficiency as impediment to fostering complex diversity needed for resilience in the unstable times to come. With our proposal, we aim to address the resulting undefined and fragile site by preparing it for the possibility of a new, nimble and savvy emerging economy. An economy built on the circular principles of long-lasting design, maintenance, repair, reuse, remanufacturing, refurbishing, and recycling. The proposed project is organized in a porous irregular grid, parcelled for different scales of development. This strategy of parcelling will help to diversify the kinds of stakeholders involved in the development of the project site, providing different kinds of spatial experiences, and exploiting the various typologies’ proximity to each other.

JURY POINT OF VIEW — The plan is interesting as it proposes a solution functioning at different scales and with different typologies, with a clear and well-defined collective space in its centre. It proposes a clear hierarchy of urban spaces and city blocks, set within a loose organisational structure that allows for different types of uses and different phasing ideas. This scheme is creating opportunities for entrepreneurs or private ownership situations. The project is productive because it is “forever young” and focused on the future.

Amsterdam H-Buurt Makers

AUTHOR(S) — Arie Gruijters (NL), Ryosuke Yago (JP), Architects; Mircea Munteanu (RO), Architect-urbanist CONTACT — info@kunst-wet.eu / www.kunst-wet.eu info@metapolis.eu / www.metapolis.eu

AMSTERDAM H-BUURT (NL) — RUNNER-UP

TEAM POINT OF VIEW — Towards a plural urbanity. The project proposes a strategy that capitalises on Bijlmermeer’s stacked traffic system, working with, rather than against, its long criticised CIAM-inspired urbanism. A zipper-like development creates new interfaces and filters: the public space contracts and expands and specific cut out spaces emerge in the generic landscape. The resulting strip becomes a stepping-stone in Amsterdam SouthEast, defined by a mix of existing and new housing typologies, anchored in new affordable incubators of production. These clusters aggregate around communal spaces and shared facilities, fostering local initiatives, start-up cells and low-end production units, laying the ground for symbiotic cycles of production, distribution, waste management and upcycling.

JURY POINT OF VIEW — The project proposes a clear strategy with its modularity and uses of green houses that try to bring extra types of buildings and an increased population. A new park connects different public spaces with the existing neighbourhood and creates opportunities for new collective spaces. New living opportunities interact with each other under the over-arching roof. The jury feels that the plan proposes an unrealistic romantic image of society and lacks density.