CONTACT Land+Civilization Compositions +31 (0) 6 520 66173 info@landandCC.com www.landandCC.com eendrachtsweg 71 3012 LG rotterdam the netherlands
OUR WAY OF THINKING We are living through a time that: Connections get stronger between the professions, which are engaged in the shaping of built form and space, and the differences amongst them are blurring. Glocal economical context, environmental issues and emerging social issues are leading the way to a new set of priorities. A new generation of ‘urban thinkers’ is emerging. ‘Process’ is more prominent than the ‘product’. Land+Civilization Compositions, a Rotterdam / Istanbul / Shenzhen based studio exploring issues at the ever expanding edge of urbanism that views city creation as an art forum.
PARTNERS
JASON HILGEFORT urbanist, architect, public space designer Jason studied urban planning and design at The University of Cincinnati and architecture at The University of British Columbia – Vancouver. His work experience ranges from New York (Ehrenkrantz Eckstut and Kuhn), to Los Angeles (Behnisch Architekten) to Mumbai (Rahul Mehrotra). From 2000 to 2004 he worked with Sustainable Urbanist and innovator Peter Calthorpe. After joining Maxwan A+U in 2007, he was involved in the ongoing projects Moscow A101, Central District Rotterdam, and Barking Riverside in London. Also, Jason lead Maxwan’s numerous competition victories – including South Harbour Helsinki, Basel Public space Masterplan, Kiev - 23 Parks, Ostrava Black Meadow, Marstall Platz Hannover, Magdeburg DE, and in Kaunas, Lithuania. Besides his work at Maxwan, he won Europan 11 in Vienna. Since then he formed Land+Civilization Compositions for investigating issues ranging from daily objects, to infrastructures, to cultural research. He is also a contributor to uncube magazine with writing on ‘architecture and beyond’.
MERVE BEDIR designer, researcher, curator Merve Bedir graduated from Department of Architecture I METU, in 2003. She was involved in a variety of design and construction projects in Turkey, Egypt, Georgia until 2008, when she moved to the Netherlands for her PhD at Faculty of Architecture I TUDelft, where she was also involved in EU projects about urban regeneration and reuse in Salzburg and Copenhagen. Merve was a freelance curator for the Netherlands Architecture Institute in 2012, where she coordinated two year-long projects on the reuse of buildings and urban transformation in Turkey. She curated Vocabulary of Hospitality (Studio X Istanbul, 2015) and Uncommon River (One Architecture Week, 2015, Bulgaria). Merve taught different workshops and courses for The Hague Art Academy, Middle East Technical University, Lusofna University, Columbia GSAPP. Currently Merve is facilitating and designing a kitchen+garden for a transnational women collective in Gaziantep, Turkey. Her work has been published in magazines like MONU, Volume, Zivot, uncube, Funambulist, Cairobserver as well as several academic journals.
RECENT WORKS
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
ONE ARCHITECTURE WEEK 2015 UN-COMMON RIVER. A 10 DAY ARCHITECTURE FESTIVAL This is an experiment of commoning the Maritsa River. Commoning as questioning the nature of the river as a border. A border between nature and culture, north and south, “European” and “non-European”, private and public… Commoning as the action of connecting, sharing, making, opening, relating and producing together. Commoning as exploring new co-existences and not as creating a substitute to the existing. Ideas, seeds, water, air, cultures and spaces, which we collectively produce each and every day, all of those are common(s). They are the results of collective efforts, research, thought and creation through time and regions. During ONE ARCHITECTURE WEEK 2015, we will be exploring the networks in Plovdiv and creating new ones locally and across countries, through spaces of collective action along and across the river, on and under the water. We will be reading, listening, living, debating, sun-bathing, imagining, rowing, learning, doing, producing and re-producing.
_FESTIVAL _EXHIBITION _LECTURE & DEBATE _INTERVENTIONS Plovdiv, Bulgaria 2015 architecture week client: EDNO program: architecture week, film screening, lecture, debate, exhibition, workshop, event, expedition...
AFORMAL.ACADEMY RE:LEARNING THE CITY. THE SCHOOL PROGRAM FOR SHENZHEN BIENNALE The notion of learning, like our comprehension of cities, is undergoing a massive transition. As opposed to the classical top-down, checking-boxes, fixed-systems; we need to REread and REform the process of acquiring knowledge. Often people’s defining educational moments are intense, dynamic, diverse moments/experiences/places out of the norms of the ‘classroom’ and ‘school’. RELearning is a spatial and co-creational knowledge exchange, where professors, both foreign and local students, lecturers, local craftsmen, in-town guests, local researchers, exhibitors, and citizens crash together in a free flowing information exchange – creating a process of multi-layered learning across disciplines, for all. The academy will REthink the object as the core manner of perceiving architecture and urbanism. It seeks frameworks that enhance the REinterpretation of buildings, the REmaking of our cities, and the REimagination of our daily lives. In the largest metropolitan region in the world, amongst some of the newest and oldest cities, in an area with an ongoing legacy of east/west co-engaging; we will learn by operating within an adapting building, on a transforming city, and amongst an ongoing Biennale. The Aformal Academy is not merely a of series educational workshops parallel to the Biennale; it is a hybrid of learning by making, exhibition, and social space; at once the public at large with the evolving library of provocations and spatial archive of explorations.
_EDUCATION _CURATORIAL _COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT _ARCHITECTURE _URBANISM _LANDSCAPE
AGORAPHOBIA A FILM ON URBAN TRANSFORMATION IN TURKEY The current wave of resistance against government action was triggered by the cutting of trees at Gezi park, just off Taksim Square in central Istanbul, in order to construct a large shopping mall in the form of historicist Ottoman military barracks. It is no coincidence that the unrest started with a police crackdown of protests against urban regeneration: urban issues form a major component of the protestors’ demands and urban regeneration has fuelled widespread discontent with public authorities. In a country that is dealing with emergent issues of governance and economical development related to urban design and spatial planning, how is it possible to transform neighbourhoods and provide housing for the masses at an unprecedented speed and scale? Which role will a recent law play, that makes 6,5 million buildings eligible for transformation and demolition? Opposition is also growing. Protests have been staged against the demolition of culturally significant neighbourhoods and the displacement of communities. Critics point to the destruction of nature and the creation of dormitory towns, which lack amenities and public space. A significant amount of newly built high-rise housing could remain unoccupied. This raises the question of how mass housing and regeneration could be better tailored to satisfying communities’ needs. What role can architecture and planning play in an industry that shows little concern for local contexts? And how might the experiences of local designers and planners, as well as colleagues from the Netherlands or UN-Habitat be relevant to these issues? In order to find answers, the architects, planners and a film crew travel from Ankara to Bursa and Istanbul consecutively. As part of their investigation, they visit transformation sites and interview the authorities in charge, scientists and local inhabitants.
_CURATORIAL _FILM PRODUCTION _URBAN TRANSFORMATION Ankara, Bursa, Istanbul, TR 2012 workshops, debates, excursions, conferences, road trip client: Netherlands Architecture Institute program: housing, community building, urban transformation, public space collaborators: Middle East Technical University, Chamber of Architects Bursa, Building Information Center Turkey funding: DutchDesignFashionArchitecture, Dutch Consulate-Istanbul
VOCABULARY OF HOSPITALITY EXHIBITION ON MIGRATION, REFUGEES AND URBAN SPACE Until last year (2013), Turkey’s regulations on refugees have partly referred to them as ‘guests’, implying that, Turkey is a transition country. The word ‘guest’ comes from the same linguistic origin with the words host, ghost, hostile, hostage, hospitium, hospitality and describe the varieties of relationship between the host and the guest. The complexity inherent in this relationship includes several obligations and tensions: Why is the guest at the door? Where did he come from? What is his name; in fact, does he have a name? What does he want? Do I have to open the door? … The responses to these questions determine the rules of hospitality. This exhibition on migration and refugees in Istanbul was comissioned by Studio X Istanbul and was an annex to Archis’ travelling exhibition: Architecture of Peace.
_EXHIBITION _CURATORIAL _MIGRATION Studio X Istanbul 2013 exhibition client: Studio X Istanbul program: exhitbition, side events artists: Banu Cennetoglu Metehan Ozcan Auguy Lufuluabo Abd Nova and Basem Nabhan Alican Inal Ulku Oktay Artikisler Collective collaborator: Archis, Studio X, Columbia GSAPP
PAMFLET SERIES OF LECTURES, CONFERENCES AND DEBATES ON CITY FORMATION Cities began as the gathering of individuals, with shared interests. In a return to its origins, the current formation of our urban habitat has come down from the ivory tower to include a multitude of actors – musicians, chefs, graffiti artists, community organizers, ecologists, as well as corporations, politicians, architects, and urbanists. Rotterdam has long been at the forefront of urban development and has always profited from being embedded in an international discourse. In recent times, with the loss of The Berlage Institute and the Netherlands Architecture Institute, a strong platform for international debate is painfully missing. PAMFLET invites innovative international voices back to Rotterdam to share their experiences and engage them into a debate with the Dutch practice.
_DEBATE _ARCHITECTURE _URBANISM _COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
W.I.I.T.Y.W.? BUCHAREST BIENNALE 7 “What are we building down there?”
_ART _BIENNALE _BILLBOARD DESGIN
http://www.bucharestbiennale.org/
Once again, people have become mere consumers and disposable commodities with limited capacity to change their lives, residing in the ‘camps of anxiety, sadism, and cruelty’* under different sorts of economical and political powers. ‘What is it that you want?’ is a question to the passers by about their wishes and desires for their lives, the individual or collective imaginations of their future; eventually it is a question of agency and a provocation to gather. (*The notion of disposable human is examined in Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ (1925) and Giroux’s ‘Zombie Politics and Culture in the Age of Casino Capitalism’ (2011)) From the curatorial statement: “Once upon a time there will be a Bucharest that positions itself as a model city for privatization processes worldwide... In order to grasp this fairytaleproposition, we first need to go back in time. Is there a more symptomatic merging of political and corporate imaginaries conceivable? ...in the meanwhile, Michael Jackson has died, and this fairytale has been abandoned... Yet this fairytale doesn’t merely consist of construction builders and corporate entrepreneurs. And so a fairytale becomes something that once upon a time will be... BB7 will highlight the themes of privatization, commercialization, and corporatization of the post-socialist city within its very structure, thereby displacing the biennale onto twenty-one advertising billboards.”
Curator: Niels van Tomme Assistant Curator: Charlotte Van Buylaere Curatorial Advisors: Sarah Demeuse Hou Hanru Sofia Hernandez Chong Cuy Prem Krishnamurthy Nat Muller Director: Eugen Rădescu
INFRASTRUCTURES OF PAIN & MERCY MISERICORDIA MULTI YEAR EXHIBITION I INTERVENTION IN OUDEKERK, AMSTERDAM Merve has curated an exhibition on ‘Vocabulary of Hospitality’, in which she tried to undo the assumption of hospitality as something ‘merciful,’ and inspected its other meanings from ‘violence’ to ‘solidarity.’ She sees this relation between hospitality and mercy as the starting point for her Misericordia research. Bedir argues that without this ‘divinity’ certain hierarchies will immediately arise between the providers and recipients of ‘mercy,’ which victimize both. She aims to problematize this through communicating the landscapes and infrastructures of trauma and pain. During the performance evening, Merve and Be Another Lab run one-to-one sessions on personal pains, using objects, and different VR technologies. From the curatorial statement: “Political, economic and climate-related developments around the globe have resulted in growing chasms between safety and insecurity, between prosperity and poverty, between ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’. Right now there is a pressing and urgent call to our sense of ‘mercy’. Misericordia is a research project and public programme by De Oude Kerk and Non-fiction, exploring contemporary expressions and interpretations of this ‘mercy’. Misericordia is a collaboration between Oude Kerk and Non-fiction and is made possible by the help of The Art of Impact fund, Ars Donandi, Fundatie van de Santheuvel, Sobbe, Iona Stichting, Protestantse Kerk en Diaconie Amsterdam,
_ART _DESIGN _INTERVENTION _PERFORMANCE
http://www.oudekerk.nl/
Curators: Michiel van Iersel Rene Boer Director: Jacqueline Grandjean Other reporters: Amal Alhaag, writer, curator Maarten Zeegers, De Correspondent Jeroen Smit, writer
GÜLSUYU CEMEVİ Traditional Alewid belief points to an isolated rural daily life and an autonomous social structure, which is operated under the social and religious authority of the Alewid fathers. The autonomy of tradional Alewids is also a result of the very limited connection with outside. It is those mechanisms, which enable the social cycle within the Alewid society, that also realize this autonomity. 1960s marked a turning point for Alewid people. Migrating to the cities, they started to open up and the isolated traditional structure of daily life started to dissolve. The belief that was experienced as transparent, small and closed in the rural have transformed into a more heterogenous, but less transparent structure. In this context, we approached this call for the design of a prayer space for Alewid people, from a position that embraces those old traditions of the rural, but thinking how they would evolve in time in the city. Of course, this is based on our assumption that Alewid belief does continue in the urban space, beyond the political and religious discussions. Our inspiration for the design proposal was a transformation of the autonomy that is the essence of Alewid belief, and the rural life, the ‘urban commons.’ For us it was important to create and highlight spaces that people could appropriate into their own commons. We wanted to respect and include everything that has happened on the allocated site into the future environment, and propose their appropriation as well.
_ARCHITECTURE _DESIGN _COMMONS _ALEWID BELIEF _REPRESENTATION
Collaborator: Yasemin Özcan, artist
AFTER GEZİ SHORTLISTED PROPOSAL FOR PAVILION OF TURKEY IN VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE, 2016 After Gezi’ is an exhibition that explores how the spirit of Gezi, the ideas that it sparked, the networks that it brought together, and the call to action that it inspired, lives on in the social and cultural fabric of the city and in the acts of individuals effected by the movement. It does so by profiling five independent projects which have begun since the dissolution of Gezi, which embody in different ways the values generated from that movement, drawing links between solidarity, resistance and action. The goal of the exhibition is to show how protest movements can evolve beyond a single issue and its spectacle, to engender an attitude that can embody different spaces and different actions in the city over time.
_ARCHITECTURE _CURATORIAL _VENICE _BIENNALE
Client I Commissioner: IKSV Collaborators: Co-curator: Brendan Cormier Exhibition and graphic design: Studio Folder
MATBAKH-MUTFAK A TRANSNATIONAL WOMEN COLLECTIVE AROUND A KITCHEN+GARDEN Matbakh-Mutfak develops a garden+kitchen+restaurant run by a transnational women collective in Gaziantep (Turkey). Solidarity, horizontality and sharing are the main principles of the collective, where refugees’ role/perception in society transforms from the guest to the host. Today in Turkey, only 1/4th of the refugees live in camps, where they are provided with all state services. Whereas 3/4th of the refugees end up in cities, where they get very little help from the state and aid organizations. Refugees, unless they obtain the legal status, are not allowed to work; mostly cannot benefit from health and education services of the states in which they seek asylum. Food/Kitchen/Cuisine becomes a cultural space of diversity/sharing/experiment. For instance, rice is cooked in many ways among Syrians, Kurdish, Turkish, Caucasians, Afghans, Iranians, ‌ the kitchen becomes a catalogue of recipes. A Self sufficient and self organised space is obtained, where the initial support transforms into sustainable socio-economical capital.
_DESIGN _FACILITATE _MIGRATION
collaborator: Kirkayak Basmeh Zeitooneh funders: Prins Claus Funds European Cultural Foundation
GUESTHOUSE FORENSIC INVESTIGATION OF A DETENTION CENTER IN ISTANBUL “Kumkapı is a touristic neighborhood of Istanbul. There are hotels, fish houses and a Guesthouse. There are Africans, Syrians, Central Asians, drug dealers, illegal traders. A church, a mosque. They say tourists should not go to Zeytinburnu, Tarlabaşı, Kumkapı in Istanbul. A weird place here…” Turkey’s Department of Security, ‘Kumkapı Foreigners Guesthouse’ was opened on 3 April 2007, at Çifte Gelinler Street no. 29, Istanbul. Undocumented migrants with no papers or who committed a crime are detained here before they are deported from Turkey. The building is 2nd degree monument, converted from a former courthouse, located on the same street with the Armenian Patriarchate. In 2010, forced by the European Human Rights Court, the facility was renamed as ‘Kumkapı Detention and Removal Center.’ Today, following the migrant exchange agreement between Turkey and EU, more detention and deportation centers, refugee camps are designed; which will lead Turkey to become a ‘wasteland’ and human beings ‘disposable.’
_GUESTHOUSE _DETENTION _MIGRATION 3rd Istanbul Design Biennale exhibition client: IKSV program: exhitbition collaborator: Alican Inal
VOIDS IN THE CITY REUSE OF GALATA GREEK SCHOOL How to reuse a vacant school building in the heart of Istanbul? Which role can architecture play in reprogramming a monument? And how vacant building become a reference point for the Greek minority? How to rethink public space in the current context? In collaboration with the Galata Greek Foundation, the Netherlands Architecture Institute organized workshops to look for answers for these questions. A model of social, cultural and ethnical diversity until the 1930s, Istanbul started to lose this characteristic due to policies against ethnical minorities. A recent law has restored the rights of ethnical minorities, which allows them to reclaim properties that once belonged to their communities. The Galata Greek School is the first of these reclaimed properties. The Greek population in Turkey dropped from 200000 to 2000 in the last 70 years, leaving several buildings that belong to them empty. These properties are the voids in the city, to be reactivated and brought back to urban life. Through colloquiums and workshops scenarios are developed around concepts of ‘courtyard of cultural experiences’, ‘by the Rum for the city’, and ‘learning by playing’. The scenarios constantly interweaved architectural design with phasing, financing, organization, creation of new coalitions and branding.
_CURATORIAL _REUSE _RETHINKING PUBLIC SPACE Istanbul, TR 2012 curatorial, matchmaking, design client: Galata Greek School Foundation Netherlands Architecture Institute program: refunctioning a school building into a cultural center collaborator: Group A, O+A, Perplekcity, Doepel Strijkers, Architectuurstudio Iris Schutten, Eva de Klerk, ABOUTBLANK, ZU Mimarlik, Daphne Mimarlik, arkiZON, NAI, GGSF, Benaki Museum, Goulandri Foundation, (special thanks: Ayça Ince, Laki Vingas, Osman Kavala, Korhan Gümüs) funding: DutchDesignFashionArchitecture, Dutch Consulate-Istanbul supporters: Istanbul Culture and Arts Foundation (IKSV), Café Nero, Aegean Airlines, Dafni Hotel
METRO MOVIES A POP-UP SHORT FILM FESTIVAL IN PUBLIC SPACE Metro Movies is a pop-up short film festival connecting and celebrating the city. Central topic will be the city, a place where people come together, share their dreams and generate new ideas that shape our world. Metro doesn’t only stand for metro but also for Metropolitan. Next to improving public space, Metro Movies wants to be a platform for filmmakers, filmlovers, and everybody who likes to inspire and get inspired. Further, the location of the festival literally happens under the metro line, at the station. The space is between two divided ‘communities’ that of the Bijlmer, an diverse, mixed income, social housing area, and Amstel III, an suburban office park. The project at least for a day, brings these to communties together via the common interests of culture, food and public space.
_CURATORIAL _FILM _ARCHITECTURE _URBANISM _COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
URBAN DESIGN
URBAN CURRENT[S] A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF MEDELLIN A river, by definition, refers to movement. Only if we interpret the Medellin River area as a single geographic entity composed of natural elements (fauna and flora) and artificial (history, culture, mobility) do we understand that the opportunity presented by this call goes beyond the area defined for the contest. This is why we consider it important to think of the river territory beyond a simple design of public space. It is the opportunity to re-structure and establish a framework for the future development of Medellín. Ideas of history and identity are key to any city. Currently many cities choose to erase/cover ‘undesirable’ history and forms of the city with classic forms of public space. Our proposal is to as much as possible to reuse the existing city forms and to reinterpret them in a more contemporary, people friendly manner. This is will remain more true to the city’s collective memory, provide a richer public space and be massively more efficient in terms of investment spending.
_MASTER PLANNING _PUBLIC SPACE _LANDSCAPE DESIGN _INFRASTRUCTURE Medellin, Colombia 2013 competition client: city of Medellin program: Public space design, pavilions, bridges site area: 423 hectares collaborator: Taller 301, openfabric
VIENNA SIEMENS VISION FOR EVOLVING INDUSTRIAL AND OFFICE AREA TO DIVERSIFY USES Learning from the qualities of the historical Leopoldauer Platz/ ‘Angerdof’ typology, a ring of ‘boulevards’ are set in place. These allow for public activities – civic, commercial, gardens, etc to take place in the middle of the street. A place where the diverse community members can meet and mingle. Siemens is currently a very inward focused site user. The development of the site will allow for Siemens to share/showcase some of their numerous innovative technologies, allowing community members to interact with the technology, for Siemens to get feedback on their work, and for Siemens to become a strong member of the community. The triangle encapsulates the diversity of the entire area to come with industry, office, hotel, and residential all present on the plaza. The area space is generous to allow for events. These can start immediately. A series of events can be hosted to give more interest to the area and notify the region that the area is going to adapt. They can act as a bit of a PR campaign for the future. Additionally, the area can feature some old relics of some of Siemens past glories. Old turbines and other items, properly lit, will give the area a richness, history, and sense of awe. Ultimately the design is driven by the site itself. The local ecology, history, and contemporary urban realities merge to form an inextricably beautiful whole and form the pathway forward.
_URBAN DESIGN _ARCHITECTURE _LANDSCAPE DESIGN Vienna, AT 2013 competition client: city of Vienna, Siemens program: housing, office space, community buildings, commercial, and a public square collaborator: Artur Borejszo, Leena Cho
DREIECKSPLATZ A TRIANGLE COHERES HOUSING, COMMERCIAL, AND SOCIAL FACILITIES Located between the Vienna Ring and Vienna Woods, the site embraces the marks of both environments – urban and nature – as a basis for future development. Currently surrounded by houses with a large amount of private green space, what is needed in the site is a generous, quality public space that will invite and sustain diverse groups of community to gather, live and work by. Major forms of transit – bus, tram and bicycle – anchor three corners of the triangle-shaped plaza with an integrated train platform in the middle. Various residential, commercial and social programs both frame and spill out toward the public triangle and support its liveliness. Green space is maximized at all different scales, fostering health, education and social interactions, while each kind of nature – from ‘wild woods’ to herb garden – defines the atmosphere of individual housing zone.
_ARCHITECTURE _PUBLIC SPACE _LANDSCAPE DESIGN Vienna, AT 2011 competition unanimous 1st prize client: city of Vienna, railway company program: housing, community building, commercial, and a public square site area: 2.2 ha collaborator: Artur Borejszo, Leena Cho, Andreas Karavanas
LOTUS PARK LEVERAGING SHARED OPEN SPACES TO PROVIDE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY Lotus Park is a small informal settlement strategically situated adjacent to the Nyanga train station on the embankment of the canalised Lotus River. Unlike most informal settlements, Lotus Park is well structured both spatially and socially. The fine grain urban fabric comprised of single story shacks facilitates pedestrian movement and displays an intricacy of nuances in public and private thresholds and appropriation of space. Given the chance however, this vibrant community will embrace the opportunity to make Lotus Park their home. The Density Syndicate investigates how density can contribute to the social economic empowerment of the Lotus Park community. In comparison to other urban agglomerations, Lotus Park has a relatively high density of 220 p/Ha. The goal of the Density Syndicate is not to increase the density, but to create more indoor and usable outdoor area. By addressing this reconfiguration on the cluster scale, the benefits of both collective financing and participation planning can be maximised.
_MASTER PLANNING _PUBLIC SPACE _URBAN STRATEGY _INFRASTRUCTURE Cape Town, South Africa 2014 client: City of Cape Town, INTI, ACC program: Housing, retail, religious, education, public space, infrastructure site area: 2.5 hectares collaborator: Doepel Strijkers, Jakupa, CORC, VPUU
MUST SEED A SCALED STRATEGY FOR COMMUNITY LEAD PUBLIC SPACE IMPROVEMENT Must seed is a strategy for gradually scaling up the model of Mustard Seeds Courtyard in Dandora, Nairobi. The courtyards are not only a physical space - they are also a model structure, a way of organizing the local community in manageable units. Through the Changing Faces challenge, the courtyards have taken on a role as social catalysts, where different groups in the neighborhood have different interests and different parts to play in the use and maintenance of the space: kids play, teenagers and adults can find jobs doing maintenance, as court guards, or even set up small businesses inside the courtyards. The next step is to include even more groups, cater for even more events and most importantly - create jobs. Must Seed is developed as a step-by-step strategy to scale up from the courtyards to the streets to the whole neighborhood of Dandora with the leaveway, the dumpsite, the abandoned factory area nearby and the Dandora train station area as bigger opportunities for development further into the future. Ultimately, the strategy could be a city wide or even nation wide way to tackle the use and management of public spaces. As Charles Gachanga, CEO of Mustard Seeds would say: “If you change Dandora you change Nairobi. If you change Nairobi, you change Kenya.�
_PUBLIC SPACE _URBAN STRATEGY _INFRASTRUCTURE Nairobi, Kenya 2015 client: UN-Habitat, IFHP, Making Cities Together, INTI program: Retail, religious, education, public space, infrastructure site area: 15 hectares collaborator: Rodeo, Avanti, Placemakers, Cave
UNFINISHED ARCHIPELAGO PROPOSAL FOR BORDER BETWEEN TIJUANA AND SAN DIEGO The proposal continuously eschews nationality and sovereignity, instead focusing on the human experience. The border line is thickened, allowing space for everything. The waters of the Tijuana River flow freely between the two countries, with the inadvertent symbolism via the absence of a delineating fence. The space for the river currently is an expression of engineering. It is for no one; therefore the reclamation of this area does not represent a seizing of space from anyone or any place. The proposal is to return the river to nature and people. A dot on the map is formed- a physical acknowledgement of crossing time. Nevertheless, it is more than a border, more than a margin for people to cross from one side to the other, but a place to be, to linger within. Amidst the chaos of the area, a group of floating island is formed- a decolonizing archipelago. There is no completed building, but a provision of a shared infrastructure for continuous and spontaneous occupation and evolution. Like nature, the space is never finished.
_ARCHITECTURE _PUBLIC SPACE _LANDSCAPE DESIGN _INFRASTRUCTURE _SPECULATION _BORDER Border between Tijuana and San Diego, Mexico-USA 2014 competition client: comptetition program: Public space design, pavilions, archipelago building collaborator: XSXL
PUBLIC SPACE DESIGN
SOKOLNIKI - EVOLUTIONARY HERITAGE A PUBLIC PARK STRATEGY FOR ONE OF MOSCOW’S LARGEST PARKS We’ve entered the Green Age, with a worldwide trend for park making; the Guggenheim effect has given way to the Highline effect. While the Highline – a park as a successful incinerator for urban renewal as well as a top destination - is a new phenomenon, Sokolniki has a long layered history that has been evolving over the years. By looking backward to the heritage of the park, one can see the way forward for the future of Sokolniki. The roots of a resilient park that is well linked to its city and its citizens is already in its nature. It is not about adding another layer of trendy thinking to Sokolniki. It is about setting up a process of allowing the park’s classic qualities to perform in a modern manner. It must evolve like any natural system, yet learn from its past like all cultural space: Evolutionary Heritage.
_MASTER PLANNING _PUBLIC SPACE _LANDSCAPE DESIGN _INFRASTRUCTURE Sokolniki, Moscow 2015 competition - 3rd prize client: city of Moscow program: Public space design, pavilions, bridges site area: collaborator: Taller 301, LOLA
METROPOLITAN FOODSCAPES XXXXXXXXXX We’ve entered the Green Age, with a worldwide trend for park making; the Guggenheim effect has given way to the Highline effect. While the Highline – a park as a successful incinerator for urban renewal as well as a top destination - is a new phenomenon, Sokolniki has a long layered history that has been evolving over the years. By looking backward to the heritage of the park, one can see the way forward for the future of Sokolniki. The roots of a resilient park that is well linked to its city and its citizens is already in its nature. It is not about adding another layer of trendy thinking to Sokolniki. It is about setting up a process of allowing the park’s classic qualities to perform in a modern manner. It must evolve like any natural system, yet learn from its past like all cultural space: Evolutionary Heritage.
_RESEARCH _FOOD SYSTEMS _LANDSCAPE DESIGN South Holland 2015 research client: Stimuleringsfonds, City of Rotterdam, South Holland Regional Government collaborator: LOLA
SEEDING MEMORY STRATEGY FOR THE LONG TERM ADAPTATION OF OLYMPIC SPORT PARK The site’s legacy for Korea, Seoul, and the world is immense. It represents for many the emergence of Korea on the global platform. This history must be respected, but not treated as a static relic. The power of the site must be leveraged to bring forth a rich layer of surfaces and subsurfaces fertile for future legacies. Urban ecologies, like natural ones, have life cycles. The strategy is to enhance already assumed large infrastructural gestures to allow space for experimentation, expansion, and even death of spatial programs. The space must not be ‘redesigned’ to be once again static, awaiting its next redesign in 30 years. It must set forth a series of systems to allow for the site to grow and adapt with its city, its country, its people and the global society.
_MASTER PLANNING _LANDSCAPE DESIGN _INFRASTRUCTURE Seoul, Korea2015 competition client: city of Seoul program: Public space design, pavilions, bridges, building renovation, infrastructure collaborator: openfabric
ÇERKES AN AGRICULTURAL RETREAT The site, in rural turkey, called for a retreat amongst an organic farm. To link all of the programs together, a spine was formed around the river and is topped with a fabric protecting from the elements as well as providing visual identity. It culminates at the entrance of the site in an observation tower, with framed views to the distant and local landscapes. The requested hotel program was transformed to create a contemporary take on the traditional regional village typologies; while the individual units were clustered and set amongst the farming landscape in direct contact with the sustainable agriculture. And a series of play spaces are set within the organic vegetable gardens. The design was about allowing all of the program, thus the visitors, to connect with nature. Therefore, farming and natural systems lead the design strategy.
_MASTER PLANNING _LANDSCAPE DESIGN _ARCHITECTURE Cerkes, Turkey 2013 competition client: losev foundation program: landscape, hotel, recreation, restaurant, play spaces, camping, observation tower site area: 50 hectares floor area 15,000 sqm collaborator: Deniz Okten
ARCHITECTURE
building A as seen from the waterfront
CENTRAL MOSQUE OF PRISTINA TRADITIONAL MOSQUE RE-INTERPRETED TO A CONTEMPORARY DESIGN A Mosque is a common space for prayer, where the individual communicates amongst the crowd. Also, it is the focal point of the community, organizing everyday life around it. The design focuses on these two axes: the praying of the individual and it as a community center. The integration of traditional elements with a modern language is an essential part of the design. The base of the prayer hall program relates the adjacent uses, binding them all together. Continuing this line of thought, a Hamam is incorporated to our design, the shops are solved in an Arasta typology, tying the mosque further to its community and its history. The traditional dome, revak, and a courtyard forms are kept, but modified to the site context with a contemporary formal quality. The Ottoman master builder Sinan used domes for two reasons: to create the largest uninterrupted, unified volume and to maximize interior light. The design achieves these intentions but emphasizes the praying of the individual by integrating tubes in the design.
_ARCHITECTURE _PUBLIC SPACE _LANDSCAPE DESIGN Pristina, Kosovo 2013 competition client: city of Kosovo program: Prayer hall, hamam, conference center, commercial, library, gardens site area: 8,100 sqm floor area 40,000 sqm collaborator: Taller 301
THE OPEN MUSEUM A MUSEUM FOR CONTEMPORARY ART In a country like Russia, transparency is a goal for society. This project can represent that step forward. Instead of being a closed box filled with art, the museum can truly open to the people. It can expose not just the works, but the workings of the museum. Even a passerby can witness the full spectrum processes of the art world. One need not buy a ticket to engage with art. The building provides a series of windows on each exhibition/event, drawing people into the museum and even forcing those uninterested in art to engage with it. The facade will act as a giant billboard to society. More than merely a sculpture garden, this active plinth will mix public space, event space, and exhibition space. It acts as an active red carpet to the main entrance, permitting glimpses into the spaces below, giving a sense of anticipation along the approach to the museum.
_ARCHITECTURE _URBAN DESIGN _PUBLIC SPACE _LANDSCAPE DESIGN Moscow, Russia 2013 competition client: national center for contemporary art program: exhibition, artist residency, retail, archive, plaza, park site area: 17 hectare site, 300 ha study area floor area 50,000 sqm collaborator: Marcin Koltunski
THE POROUS MUSEUM XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX A river, by definition, refers to movement. Only if we interpret the Medellin River area as a single geographic entity composed of natural elements (fauna and flora) and artificial (history, culture, mobility) do we understand that the opportunity presented by this call goes beyond the area defined for the contest. This is why we consider it important to think of the river territory beyond a simple design of public space. It is the opportunity to re-structure and establish a framework for the future development of Medellín. Ideas of history and identity are key to any city. Currently many cities choose to erase/cover ‘undesirable’ history and forms of the city with classic forms of public space. Our proposal is to as much as possible to reuse the existing city forms and to reinterpret them in a more contemporary, people friendly manner. This is will remain more true to the city’s collective memory, provide a richer public space and be massively more efficient in terms of investment spending.
_MASTER PLANNING _PUBLIC SPACE _LANDSCAPE DESIGN _INFRASTRUCTURE Medellin, Colombia 2013 competition client: city of Medellin program: Public space design, pavilions, bridges site area: 423 hectares collaborator: Taller 301, openfabric
OPEN SOURCE “If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” -Marcus Tullius Cicero Knowledge is not about libraries or books or the internet. The accumulation of knowledge is essentially the foundation of civilization. Libraries have traditionally been the locations to store the information. Now libraries have the opportunity to be much more. They are the hubs to access, share, and to discuss knowledge. They no longer are mainly about storage and preservation. They are about ease of access and about gathering of people. Further, the nature of how the information is shared has changed. With the advent of digital technology space no longer needs to be spatially ordered. Spaces can be much more dynamic and flexible, allowing for users to shape them more freely. The users themselves can form new ways of gathering and sharing knowledge with each other. The library is their tool to be interpreted.
_ARCHITECTURE _PUBLIC SPACE _LANDSCAPE DESIGN Daegu, South Korea 2012 client: City of Daegu area: 3,500 sqm program: Library, social center, event space, café, children’s play space, public space collaborator: Artur Borejszo, Ignas Uogintas, Dalia Zakaite, and Grisha Zotov
OTHER
URBAN FABRIC INTERIOR PUBLIC SPACE INSTALLATION, EVENT/PRODUCTION SPACE The old Singer Factory is located at Hoogstraat 170, next to the Vlasmarkt. After the WWII, Singer was one of the first to open a factory in Rotterdam, in order to produce jobs within the recovering city. Today, the factory is no longer functioning. The SingerSweatShop, an artist collective, is currently activating the building. UrbanFabric strives to reveal and emphasize the urban quality and value of this particular space within the city. For this, a ‘fabric’ is introduced as an abstract agent merging the history and present reality of the place. Additionally, the venue will offer a place to pause and have a coffee, drinks, and snacks along the zigzag journey. The space will feature a series of installations and performances relating to fashion and architecture. Urban Fabric is a project in the context of Architecture festival ZigZagCity.
_CURATORIAL _EXHIBITION _INSTALLATION _FASHION
Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 2014 festival client: ZIGZAG CITY FESTIVAL program: architecture festival, film screening, lecture, debate, exhibition, workshop, event, expedition...
TUGBA
_LANDSCAPE DESIGN _ART
AN ENTRY INTO THE METIS ART GARDENS FESTIVAL
Quebec, Canada 2013 competition
According to several myths and beliefs [Ayyavazhi, Armenian, Assyrian, Chinese, Celtic, Georgian, Iroquois, Norse, Mesoamerican, Mesopotamian, Persian, Turkic mythologies and Baha’i, Christianity, Judaism, Kabbalah, Germanic paganism, Rastafari, Serer, Swedenborgianism, Taoism beliefs], the inverted tree: tugba, balances the macro cosmos and the micro cosmos. It can symbolize the human being, or all human beings in the world. It suggests that life does not come from the earth but from the sky. In some tales it is referred to as the ‘tree of life’, bringing the entire human environment into being. Apart from the mythical origin of the upside down tree, this project speaks to the Canadian logging industry’s realities and its aggressive treatment of nature as an industrial product. The rawness of the roots being upended and exposed symbolizes the raw violence inherent to the act of logging. On an experiential level, the inverted trees question the standard relationship people establish with trees. The proximity of the roots allows the visitor to relate to the tree in a different way. The visual experience becomes almost tactile. The visceral sense of seeing the unseen – the roots of trees – engages with the viewer and asks them to forever reexamine their every day moments with trees.
client: redford gardens program: art garden site area: 200 sqm
PLACE OF THE BED IN A ROOM For any room, “does the room change when we change the place of the bed? If not, what is different?” -Georges Perec, Especes d’espaces, 1974 This competition on philosophy and perception of architectural space asked for a graphical representation to this question. Different contributors to the competition approached the question within a scope from reformulating it to upscaling it from the room to the urban. From the jury report: Variety in perception, themes on light, sound and other elements of space, associations on the meaning of bed, the role of memory were the common aspects of all submissions. Besides, in many submissions the changing parameter was claimed to be the perceiver/user, and in some of them it was the room (space). Our approach departed from the Deleuzean concept ‘assemblage’. We made an experiment with a glass box filled with water, ink dropped in water, and the stone in the box. These elements represented the room, the individual, change, and the bed, respectively. Through this experiment, instead of trying to answer this philosophical question, we tried to ask the question again in a different formulation and document the experiment by photographing it.
_PHENOMENOLOGY _SPACE _PERCEPTION Istanbul, TR 2010 competition, 2nd prize organizer: MEKANAR, Istanbul program: representing a question by graphical means collaborator: with Deniz Ökten and Zeynep Oguz
TEACHING/RESEARCH EXAMPLES OF RESULTS A series of examples of research and explorations done in assorted Universities and Academies in regards to the city
_EDUCATION _URBAN DESIGN _ARCHITECTURE _LANDSCAPE DESIGN _INFRASTRUCTURE
PAST WORKS
URBAN DESIGN
STAPLETON REDEVELOPMENT THE REDESIGN OF THE FORMER DENVER AIRPORT Informed by both the existing and former uses of this airport site, a series of mixed-use neighborhoods were created alongside wildlife habitat, industrial development, and a variety of open space typologies. This project was a winner of the Stockholm Partnership for Sustainable Cities Award in 2002.
_MASTER PLANNING _DESIGN GUIDELINES _SUSTAINABILITY VISION Denver, USA 2000client: ForestCity and the City of Denver program: 30,000 residents in 12,000 homes, 10, plus, schools, an 80 acre (320,000 m2) Central Park, a commuter-rail station, 10,000,000 sq ft (930,000 m2) of office space, 1,500,000 sq ft (140,000 m2) of retail, and 1,100 acres (4.5 km2) for parks and open space. site area: 4,700 acres (1900 ha) collaborator: Wolff Lyon and EDAW
eastern quarter
southern quarter
high density area and central park
low density area
PROJECT A 101 A NEW TOWN FOR 320’000 RESIDENTS SOUTH-WEST OF MOSCOW
_MASTER PLAN _INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING _ECOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK Moscow, RUS 2006-ongoing
In 2007, Maxwan completed the 6000 ha master plan, dubbed Project A101, after having won an international competition in 2005. This is arguably one of Europe’s largest urban projects. Working closely with the client, engineers, landscape architects and a host of local consultants, the masterplan was approved by the regional planning authorities. The project features 116’000 homes of varying size and type, 13 mixed-use centres, a business park (500’000 m2 office floor space), a new university and an entirely new network of roads and public transport. Establishing a high level of social infrastructure, the development will include 2 hospitals, 20 health clinics, 60 schools, and 150 kindergartens. Our first priority was to develop a socially sustainable city where the inhabitants have all the necessary public amenities within an accessible distance.
client: Masshtab Management Company Ltd. program: 116’000 dwellings, 1’185’000 m2 commercial, 910’000 m2 industrial, 530’000 m2 retail, 604’000 m2 social infrastructure, 600 ha leisure park space, 4 tram lines connecting to the Moscow metro system, 1 university, 60 schools, 150 kindergartens, 2 hospitals site area: 8’100 ha with: URS and H+N+S
latest sales marketing images
BARKING RIVERSIDE, LONDON, UK MASTER PLAN FOR NEW MIXED USE COMMUNITY ON THE THAMES The Barking Riverside project proposes housing for 25’000 people and will be built within the next 20 years on one of the largest underdeveloped sites in Greater London. The breathtaking site on the northern bank of the river Thames lies at the heart of the Thames Gateway Development, not far from Canary Wharf and the Lower Lea Valley (site of the 2012 Olympics). The design provides 11’000 homes, urban facilities (shops, bars, restaurants, recreation, sports), schools, a large new park, a number of public squares, ecological values, and an animated riverfront resulting in 2000 new jobs. Accessibility to the river will be one of the features increasing value for the new residents and the inhabitants of the adjoining borough alike. The master plan describes in detail the structure and quality of the urban space, also outlining the plan’s development within the next 20 years.
_MASTER PLANNING _DESIGN GUIDELINES _PUBLIC SPACE London, UK 2004 - on going project client: Barking Riverside ltd. program: 11’000 houses, 22’000 m2 retail/ leisure, 2’000 m2 health care, 3 schools site area: 180 ha collaborator: Karres + Brands landscape
ROTTERDAM CENTRAL STATION MASTERPLAN FOR THE AREA ADJACENT ROTTERDAM CENTRAL STATION Rotterdam is building a new train terminal in the heart of the city. It will provide accommodation for high-speed links to and from Amsterdam, Paris and London, as well as a Randstad-rail connection, new subway station and bus terminal. Over 70 million people are expected to visit the new hub every year. Maxwan has developed an urban Master plan for the 1km long, 20 ha area surrounding the new Central Station. It provides a key to the transformation of an isolated, unattractive business environment into a well connected, lively part of downtown Rotterdam. The Master plan stresses the importance of a coherent and well-managed development of a large number of projects within the area. These projects include public space design, a new bus terminal and several property developments totalling up to 600.000 m2 of mixed uses. For each project, a set of guidelines is provided that will secure high quality design of the public realm and its buildings.
_MASTER PLANNING _DESIGN GUIDELINES _PUBLIC SPACE Rotterdam, NL 2007 - ongoing client: dS+V Rotterdam task: master plan, improvement of public space network, traffic and public transport facilities site area: 20 ha
educational axis
event square with auditorium canteen
student housing
student housing
library promenade
faculty of art and design
WENZHOU KEAN UNIVERSITY, CN MASTER PLAN FOR NEW CHINESE, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY CAMPUS
_MASTER PLANNING _ARCHITECTURE _PUBLIC SPACE Wenzhou, CN 2012
Universities are more than merely places of study. Universities today are places for living, working and studying. Students want active, diverse, lively places. Cities offer these conditions. And urban places want to take advantage of all the – student life, research technologies, etc. Our design preserves and enhances great existing natural qualities of the site. Proximity to the hills, gives the project a great backdrop, and the campus structure frames views, while existing water systems are linked to become the backbone, framework, and key feature for the entire campus network.
client: Kean University, Wenzhou program: education, housing, retail, recreational, office site area: 70 ha
A campus is not a singular place. It needs different identities to give each area character. In relation to their context, program, and geographic setting, each area takes its own identity. The proposal suggests a variety of gardens, giving each area identity and a series of intimate, diverse moments to interact with nature. The brief called for a grand central library. The proposal instead creates an active learning district. Besides the main library, the library program is separated into a series of faculty specific libraries. The libraries along with a restaurant function act as the front face of each building. Behind that front face other public spaces are included – lecture halls, grand stairs, event spaces, etc. This essentially results in one big public space for learning filled with activity and places to hang out learn and share knowledge. Living and Learning are complex and intertwined. The proposal creates a series of interconnected spaces that allow for complex university life, to unfold in ways that are welcoming to students, faculty, and to the public at large.
floor space: 400.000 m2 with: Ector Hoogstad Architects
green roofs
raw nature characterizes the public space
GENEVA, CH
_MASTERPLANNING _COMPETITION
SUSTAINABLE INDUSTRIAL, LEISURE AND HOUSING COMMUNITY
Geneva, CH 2010
Located at the junction of three distinct forms of development - agricultural, suburban and industrial - the challenge was to retain the qualities of the existing, while creating something new. On site, there are already many existing beautiful elements - farm houses, green houses, and existing trees. Keeping these is the first step toward long term sustainability, while allowing for a longer memory and understanding of the site’s history. Rather than insert standard suburban development with manicured greenways slicing through; the design made the entire site feel natural and then provided links to the riverway via intense swaths of raw nature. This set the green framework for the site. This green grid forms a ‘Mondrian meets Pollack’ grid. Where the more regular large scale street network runs through the industrial area and transitions to a more loose, finely-knit, informal, and small scale pedestrian and bike passages leading to the more pastoral riverfront residential. This transition from industrial to pastoral is further embraced by choosing to not develop the site following the guidelines of standard zoning. Instead we propose a more integrated gradient of building types from southwestern big box industrial to northeastern small scale residential to promote a smooth transition of programs and building types. This simple gesture has several advantages: it provides a wide variation in housing and open spaces on the site, encourages ecological richness, and a more socially sustainable community. Because of the desire for an active neighborhood core with lively frontages on both sides of the Main Street, the proposal located the urban center within the district. This means a shift of the main street from the southern, trafficintensive border to the core of the site. The main street will host the highest density residential, mixed with shops and will extend further east toward the sports and leisure activities. It connects to the regional transport and landscape networks and therefore to downtown business links, cultural arenas, and the larger ecological systems. Inspired by current uses on site - green houses - future development will incorporate living machine technology. This will capitalize on site’s existing fertile soils. A few key living machines will serve as local icons and centers for green education, visitor information, local’s centers, and centers for energy and ecology.
Client: Stadt Genf [City of Geneva] Program: housing, industrial, sport, retail, culture site area: 60 ha In collaboration with: JDS / Julien de Smedt Architects
QINGPU, CHINA A CITY DESIGNED AROUND WATER
_MASTER PLANNING Qingpu, CN 2009 competition client: city of Qingpu
Water plays a central role in our proposal for the Qingpu master plan, just as it has been central to previous generations of residents in the area. The existing water ecology and culture is used as a foundation for a series of new public spaces that will allow each member of the community to connect to water: doing business, walking or playing. The “five waters of Qingpu” are designed to create specific atmospheres which form the basis of the city’s identity and make it special and recognizable. New business developments on the south side of the central avenue form small open spaces along a historic canal. Housing on the North side creates intimate spaces connected through a natural park along the main waterway, while cultural uses and retail spaces line the main waterway in the West. Marinas and docks along the eastern canal provide direct access for boats to the waterway system and finally the grand fountain on the central avenue is an expression and a symbol of the communities’ connection to water.
program: 500’000 m2 offices, 100’000 m2 public space design site area: 60 ha
view towards Guggenheim
overlooking Guggenheim towards market
elevation new markethal
SOUTH HARBOUR HELSINKI, FI RETURNING THE HARBOUR TO THE PEOPLE
_MASTER PLANNING _ARCHITECTURE _PUBLIC SPACE Helsinki, FI 2011-12
Maxwan was awarded the highest prize for their competition entry “STADI TERASSI” in the Open International Ideas Competition “South Harbour Helsinki”, out of 201 submissions. The jury report states that “the (Maxwan) proposal respects its environment in terms of the cityscape, and is an innovative, stylish and well substantiated totality…” and that new buildings are of “high quality” and have been “uniquely and skillfully solved”.
client: City of Helsinki program: public space, harbour facilities, ferry terminals, market hall, museum, cultural facilities, retail, offices, housing, parking
The South Harbour in Helsinki has a rich history, which is currently masked by a myriad of strictly functional spaces. This project sets out to do the obvious – return the harbour to the PEOPLE of Finland. A few large scale shifts make room for a diverse series of small-scale, water-oriented public uses that ensure a lively space throughout the day and all the seasons. These moves together add up to creating a true Stadi Terassi or Helsinki Terrace, a place for people spilling out from the inner city, and for guests arriving from the waterside. All can find a place along the water to actively engage with its history, culture, and public life.
area: 23 ha
KAUNAS, LT MASTER PLAN FOR A SITE BETWEEN THE HISTORIC CENTER AND THE RIVER
_MASTER PLANNING _PUBLIC SPACE _ARCHITECTURE Lithuania 2009 competition 1st prize
The historic urban fabric of Kaunas had its ties to the Neris River severed in the 50’s with the construction of the Lituanica factory. Our proposal provides five connections from the historic centre directly to the river. Between a series of urban blocks, an outdoor room is formed with an individual character. As these links extend out toward the river each provide a different manner of interacting with the preserved natural riverfront. Each forms a variety of new public programs, like grand terrace, pedestrian bridge, amphitheatre etc. The program for the site demanded five monocultures. The major program – retail - forms a small scale urban tissue, creating a network of shopping options. The housing component is terraced over the retail, allowing for private outdoor spaces with views in all directions. To the east of the site a major transit hub is created. A new municipal office complex is situated above the transit hub, forming an iconic entrance element for the city centre. The demand for a cultural program is on the western edge of the site, providing adjacency to the historic Kaunas Castle, as well as forming a tilted green roof allowing for a large green space to look out over the river and the Castle itself. With all of this urban tissue sitting atop a hidden and easily phaseable super parking structure.
client: UAB Baltisches Haus, city of Kaunas program: commercial, offices, housing, cultural, hotel site area: 13 ha total floorspace: 90.000 m2
POMPENBURG A NEW HILL TOWN IN THE HEART OF ROTTERDAM
_MASTER PLANNING _DESIGN GUIDELINES _PUBLIC SPACE Rotterdam, NL 2007 - ongoing
The Pompenburg site in the centre of Rotterdam is split in two by the entrance to the River Maas railway tunnel. The structure has been appropriately tainted by tile and graffiti and presents an insurmountable barrier. In our Pompenburg scheme, the rail-tracks are covered by a public deck that hides the tunnel from sight and reconnects the two halves of the site - and therefore two halves of the city. To lift the existing grade level up to the desired height, we propose to build relatively cheap parking facilities on grade. The roof of the parking is the deck, the bridge, and the connection. The deck connects to the top of a former railway viaduct through Rotterdam North, which will be made accessible for slow traffic. Thus a new route is created between the commercial centre and the residential areas in the north. To the east the deck connects seamlessly with the existing Pompenburg road, providing a new route between the central station and the dense residential quarters around Blaak Market. Thirdly, a new bridge will connect across Schiekade, allowing direct access to the Central District surrounding Rotterdam Central Station.
client: Taskforce Pompenburg program: 100,000 m2 of housing, office, education, horeca, leisure, culture, retail task: master plan, improvement of public space network site area: 5.8 ha
ARCHITECTURE
KMC CORPORATE OFFICE A FRESH ICON HIGHLIGHTS TRADITIONAL COOLING SYSTEMS Located in CyberCity, Hyderabad, this corporate building employs the idea of a double skin as a visually dynamic façade, as well as a screen that humidifies the air entering the building – to create evaporative cooling for the interiors. The inner skin of the building is a reinforced concrete frame with standard aluminum windows. The outer façade comprises of a custom cast aluminum trellis with hydroponic trays and drip irrigation, integrated for growing a variety of plant species. The trellis also has an integrated misting system in order to control and regulate the amount of water released to the plants and used when required – to cool the building or cleanse the façade of dust in the hot and windy summer months in Hyderabad. The principal of the facade is inspired by the idea of a double skin that allows a modulation of light and air through the building. This is in contrast to the business-as-usual idea of the ‘green-wall’, which is a simple application on a surface purely serving an aesthetic, not a performative function.
_ARCHITECTURE _INTERIOR DESIGN _LANDSCAPE DESIGN Hyderabad, IN completed 2012 client: KMC program: office, communal spaces, plaza
PRINCE OF WALES VISITORS CENTRE
_ARCHITECTURE _LANDSCAPE DESIGN
PAVILION-LIKE SPACE FORMS A NEW ENTRANCE TO A HISTORIC MUSEUM
Mumbai, IN completed 2011
The visitors’ centre is located at the entrance of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS), formerly the Prince of Wales Museum, a Grade I heritage structure in Mumbai. The contemporary structure expands upon the footprint of a previously existing multipurpose hall, and is a part of an expansion plan for this prestigious urban landmark. The centre fulfills various programmatic functions, ranging from the integration of baggage collection and storage, to ticketing and security, as well as a museum shop, two hundred seat auditorium, and rest rooms. A lightweight, stainless steel clad elliptical roof creates a covered verandah for circulation, integrating disparate visitor programs into a consolidated and modest, yet contemporary form. Glass and metal surfaces exist as a visual counterpoint to stout basalt stone of local heritage structures.
client: CSMVS program: office, info center, storage
HATHIGAON ELEPHANT VILLAGE A HOME FOR BOTH ELEPHANTS, THE TRAINERS, AND THEIR FAMILIES A housing project for a 100 elephants and their Mahouts (care-takers), Hathigaon (or elephant village) is situated at the foothill of the Amber Palace and Fort near Jaipur. The design strategy first involved structuring the landscape that had been devastated by its use as a sand quarry by local sand suppliers, to create a series of water bodies to harvest the rain runoff, as this is the most crucial resource in the desert climate of Rajasthan. With the water resources in place, an extensive tree plantation program together with seeding the site to propagate local species. The water body was a critical component of the design, as it also facilitated the bonding between the mahout and elephant, through the process of bathing – an important ritual both for the health of the elephant as well as their attachment to their keeper. The housing units are organized in clusters and situated on portions of the site that are not used for the landscape regeneration. Courtyards and pavilions supplement the otherwise small spaces that are allocated in the budget for this essentially low-income housing project. The site planning thus employed a system of clusters to create a shared community space at different hierarchies to build a sense of community among the inhabitants.
_MASTER PLANNING _ARCHITECTURE _LANDSCAPE DESIGN Jaipur, Rajasthan, IN 2011 client: city of Vienna, railway company program: housing, community buildings, commercial, and landscape
THINK TANK RETREAT
_ARCHITECTURE _LANDSCAPE DESIGN
A SIMPLE, OPEN STRUCTURE FOR VISITORS TO MINGLE WITH NATURE
Valpoi, Goa, IN completed 2009
Located in the verdant environs of eastern Goa, the Think Tank Retreat is composed of eight living units and a health center. The ancillary programs of the health center (massage rooms, a conference facility and kitchen) are imagined as independent boxes that are integrated with a common plinth under a large pitched roof. The intimate spaces above the boxes serve as multipurpose decks for meeting, yoga and meditation.
program: sleeping rooms, multipurpose spaces, landscape design
HOUSE N
_ARCHITECTURE _LANDSCAPE
RENOVATION AND ADDITION TO A SEASIDE VILLA
Noordwijk, NL completed 2012
Built in 1938, this Noordwijk seaside villa was battered by the salty sea weather over the decades and the house was in need of renovation. Additions bring new distinctive features to the house, while respecting its original character. Extending into the back garden with floor-to-ceiling glass on three sides is the new living room, which maximizes light and views from among the treetops towards the garden and further out to the sea. In the opposite direction stretches the new kitchen, incorporated in a single precast concrete block. Its color contrasts to the existing house while harmonizing with the surroundings. Both extensions of the new kitchen and living room are clearly separated from the existing structure with glass slits, through which the sky dramatically bursts. The spiral staircase connecting the uppermost levels elegantly uses the balustrade to support the treads, with the laser-cut pattern blending from closed to open for structural efficiency and recalling the breaking waves. In addition to these major components, the entire house is renewed in a manner complementary to the original house
client: private program: Single family home total floorspace: 500 m2 collaborator: Structural Engineering: F. Wiggers – Varsseveld
TBILISI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT Tbilisi International Airport is the main airport serving Tbilisi, the capital city of Georgia. It is located at a distance of 17km to the south-east of the city. The airport connects the city to various international destinations such as London, Paris, Moscow, Istanbul, Dubai and Frankfurt. The whole airport was renovated in 2007 to increase its passenger handling capacity to 2.8 million per annum. The airport served 1.06 million passengers in 2011. The airport’s old terminal building, which was designed in a Stalinist architectural style, was opened in 1952. It was designed with a symmetric axes and monumental risalit floor plan. A new terminal with international design architecture was constructed in 1990. In September 2005 TAV signed a build operate transfer (BOT) contract with Joint Stock Company Tbilisi International Airport for design, construction, operation and maintenance of overall airport renovation. The operational license is valid for 20 years. The renovation project was initiated in January 2006 and completed in February 2007. It involved construction of a new terminal building with an area of 24 500 m2 and a capacity to handle 2.8 million passengers each year. A parking lot with an area of 5 570 m2 with parking capacity of 200 vehicles was also constructed. A 47 400 m2 apron, 6 285 m2 of service roads, 14 500 m2 of connecting roads, 23 000 m2 of taxiways and a runway, with an area of 46 765 m2, were added to the existing infrastructure of the airport. The renovated terminal has three passenger boarding bridges, 25 check-in counters, five boarding gates and three baggage claim carousels.
_MASTER PLANNING _AIRPORT DESIGN _CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT Tbilisi, GO 2006 competition unanimous 1st prize client: Georgian Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure program: Airport, Build, Operate, Transfer (BOT) terminal area: 14 500m2 site area: 110 000 m2 collaborator: TAV Design Office, Suha Afacan, Orkun Yenen, Unsal Susam
ESENBOGA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT Ankara Esenboga International Airport serves the capital city of Turkey and is one of the most modern airports in Europe. It is located in Esenboga, about 28km north-east of Ankara itself. The airport was selected as the best airport by the International Airports Council of Europe (ACI Europe) in the five to ten million passengers category. The airport handled 8.5 million passengers and recorded 72 244 aircraft movements in 2011, which marked an increase of ten percent over the previous year. The average daily traffic of the airport in 2011 was 175 aircraft movements and 21 000 passengers. Esenboga International Airport is the result of a competition won by a Turkish firm called EDDA in 1998. The tender applied Building-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model and TAV Holding won the tender. TAV Design Office was held responsible of project development and implementation under the consultancy of EDDA. The project also covered re-functioning of the existing terminal. The terminal building has a total area of 183 135 m2, with a capacity to handle more than ten million passengers per annum. Airport’s construction was commenced in September 2004 and completed one year ahead of schedule. It became operational in October 2006. The terminal has an apron of area 296 000 m2, a duty free area of 2 387 m2 and also a food court arena of 5 200 m2. It has 19 passenger boarding bridges, 36 passport control booths, 102 check-in counters and 38 moving stair-sets. A large multistorey parking lot was built at the airport along with the passenger terminal, in 2006. It has an area of 120 000 m2 with 4 050 vehicle parking spaces. An environmentally-friendly Cogeneration Station was installed at the airport in 2007 to generate electricity for use in the event of a power failure. This system allows power generation from natural gas, which is a cheaper and safer option. The Cogeneration Station also provides a Wastewater Heat Recycling System and ABS Chiller System to generate heat in winters and reduce heat in summers. This system also enhances the system efficiency and reduces carbon emissions. The airport terminal is designed to make maximum use of natural daylight to help reduce electricity consumption for artificial lighting.
_MASTER PLANNING _AIRPORT DESIGN _CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT Ankara, TR 2004-2006 competition, 1st prize project development client: Turkish State Airport Authority program: airport, Build, Operate, Transfer (BOT) terminal area: 183 135 m2 site area: 543 614 m2 collaborator: TAV Design Office in consultation with EDDA, ARUP, GMW, Bureau Veritas, van der Lande, EADUC
ATLANTIS HOTEL DELUXE HOTEL AND HOLIDAY RESORT This hotel project is the result of one main question of the developer: How to make it possible that the hotel guests stay in rooms for a short time and spend as much time as possible in the common areas.
_DESIGN _CONSTRUCTION _LANDSCAPE DESIGN Antalya, TR 2000 design project by Atelier T construction and operation by LIMAK Holding client: LIMAK Holding program: hotel, holiday resort
Our response was to make the rooms comfortable and luxury enough but just enough, hoping that the guests will want to leave the rooms soon after they are finished with their initials demands within the room. In addition we designed the main circulation as complex as possible, so that the guests wander more in the hotel and discover the little niches here and there with cafes, bars, shops, etc. Atlantis De Luxe Hotel and Resort is a LIMAK investment with an indoor area of 40 000 m2, located in Belek Tourism Center of Antalya. In this 5-star Hotel, there are 400 rooms and 30 holiday houses; 14 main halls, an exhibition area of 1 500 m2 and a convention center with a closed space of 4 100 m2, an auditorium for 1 100 persons and 4 separate halls for 75 persons. There are 11 pools in the facility, including an aqua park and two olympic swimming pools. The project was initially developed by Atelier T, Istanbul, and developed later on by LIMAK Architectural Project Department; under the consultancy of Atelier T.
project area: 4500 m2 site area: 20 000 m2 collaborator: Atelier T LIMAK Architectural Project Department
LOVE COVE A VISUAL SHOWCASE OF MARITIME AND POP MUSIC ACTIVITY Forming a true icon of the maritime and pop culture industries, the space is more than simply formally symbolic or a series of closed boxes; it functions as a visual display of bustle of the actual workings and events of pop and maritime culture. By exposing the reality of the maritime and pop industries, people can engage with these cultures. Site Strategy In Taiwan in general, and in Kaohsiung specifically, open space is a precious commodity. The choice was made to maximize the available open space on site. The ability to interact with water is integral to the public space design. The Building The building is a connecting structure from east to west, creating a vibrant retail bridge with views out over the cove. The building is given a thin profile, in order to press the activities against the faรงade, giving the public greater visual access, while also providing those in the building constant views out toward the harbor. Logistics and Entrances The public space is laid out for simple functionality. There are three zones for parking, directly accessed from the adjacent streets. These zones also allow for loading and logistics straight up into the building. Covering these three areas is an undulating public space.
_URBAN DESIGN _ARCHITECTURE _LANDSCAPE Kaohsiung,Taiwan, ROC 2010 Competition Client: City of Kaohsiung Program: Cultural - Pop Music Center, Marine Center, Large Performance Hall, Music Rehearsal Space, Small Performance Halls
RED HILL RISE USING A OFFICE DEVELOPMENT TO FORM A TOWN CENTER The essence of the assigned task is to provide a successful office space development. The single greatest determinant of an office’s economic value is the desirability of its location. Therefore, the design of this project does more than merely deliver high quality offices; it creates great spaces to work; AND to shop, drink, sit in the sun, meet a friend, and much more. By subtly manipulating simple, efficient material, structural, and energy systems, we create a rich, layered series of spaces and places for people. Truthfully, sustainability is about more than the number of points one can acquire from a checklist about social impact, ecology, and energy; it is about long term economic value. But to achieve those long term goals, one needs a smart, short term strategy. This proposal maximizes current resources and potentials – urban, infrastructural, cultural, ecological and building systems - to create a high initial return. Ugly is never sustainable. In the end, the most sustainable thing one can do is make a beautiful space that people love. By embracing the site’s existing potential and designing strategically to harness and enhance those qualities, the project generates a greater social, ecological, energy value; therefore, economic sustainability. A place people WANT to be.
_URBAN DESIGN _ARCHITECTURE _PUBLIC SPACE Prague, CZ 2013 Client: KKCG Program: office, retail, culture, parking
PERFORUM PERformance + FORUM The competition program required a collection of varying and related spaces. Instead of trying to press all of these assorted spaces with differing needs into one singular form, the design allows each spatial component to take on its own form. This permits each programmatic element to work independently and efficiently. The varying spaces are not compromised functionally in order to fit into a certain form. With this independence comes a need for cohesion. A grand forum was formed to elegantly resolve this issue. It not only provides formal coherence, but also social cohesion. It creates a space to hang out, bump into, or a moment to sit and watch people. The walls of the grand forum are more than merely edges of a mixing chamber. They provide literal windows into the activity of each program - vignettes into the life of the building. For each program there is an opportunity to retreat to the comfort of their own space, while the grand forum allows users to mix with each other - like public space with the comfort of climatized space.
_ARCHITECTURE Tallinn, ES 2011 Client: City of Tallinn Program: Ballet school, music school, high school, elementary school, performance halls, and dormitory
MARSTALL PLATZ HANNOVER, DE
_ARCHITECTURE _PUBLIC SPACE
TWO HOUSING BLOCKS WITH A WELL PROPORTIONED PUBLIC SPACE
Hannover, GER 2010 competition 1st prize
Currently, the space is a parking lot with open ends toward city centre shopping district and the Leine River, while the long sides are bound by a residential district and a red light district. Given its central location and its surroundings rough bite, the site is a perfect habitat for young creative people. Our first step was to treat the space as an extension of the city’s pedestrian network, linking it to the Leine River. The next step was to place a building on each of the ends of the space. This move gave greater definition to both the city centre and the river edge, and created a well proportioned public space. In the centre of this public space lies a multifunctional surface with a slightly tilting topography. While the ground level is slowly descending toward the river, the central surface is following the opposite slope. In this way, the square is transitioning from a sunken square, to an at grade passage, into a stage. The sunken square creates a water surface in summertime and an ice surface in wintertime; the stage allows concerts and open air cinema, student fashion shows and more. Two glass pavilions are located on the north side of the plaza to activate the street. They can be used for selling food or drinks in summertime, to renting ice skates in wintertime.
client: city of Hannover program: two mixed use buildings and a public square site area: 1,5 ha total floorspace: 18’000 m2 collaborator: LOLA landscape architects
G2C HOUSE SUSTAINABLE FLOATING HOUSE ON AMSTEL RIVER A floating house is actually another Amsterdam dwelling typology. Its difference from other dwellings is not only the fact that it doesn’t rest on pilotis. Floating, in this case, has many consequences, ranging from rocking pendant lights to different mortgages, risks of water quality, scaffolding to walk in all weather conditions, etc. Much of what on earth is routine, needs to be re-invented here: Technically, legally, financially, urbanistically and organizationally. The competition of Amsterdam Municipality asks for a sustainable floating house on Amstel River. Our approach was to make the house off the grid: Employ any potential Amstel can offer into the house to make it free/sustain itself. We started with writing a scenario on the lifestyle of the family living in the house: Narrating the daily life of the household during one week, and in a year: How many hours they work, which days of the week they work, what to the children do, their hobbies, how long they go on holiday in a year, etc. We employed a variety of technologies: Lifting the house from the ground by means of which using air flow to full extend; obtaining electricity from water flow, and from wind by turbines and sun by solar panels for hot water and electricity. We insulated the house: Producing the details of the dwelling so that it is well insulated from outside weather conditions, good windows, etc. Gathering the necessary materials from the closest location was essential. We calculated the efficiency of the house from the beginning: We started with modelling the energy efficiency of the house from the initial step, modelling the energy requirements of the household. At every step we updated our model to see the change in energy consumption levels.
_ARCHITECTURE _SUSTAINABILITY _FLOATING TECHNOLOGY Amsterdam, NL 2010 competition, honourable mention client: Amsterdam Municipality program: single family dwelling on water site area: approx. 30 m2 collaborator: Ebami Tom, Yaron Tam, Roy Wijte, Sine Çelik, Monika Konrad
PUBLIC SPACE DESIGN
RUGGEVELD ANTWERP, BE URBAN / LANDSCAPE / RECREATIONAL / SPORTPARK ON THE CITY EDGE The ambition for the Park Ruggeveld is to combine recreational needs of Antwerp and Deurne with ecological functions of the Groot Schijn and Koude Beek valleys, in such a way that a very accessible, multi-favoured urban park appears. The masterplan offers a patchwork of diverse activities and atmospheres, held together by a strong and unifying public backbone. Our vision offers answers to three major questions: How to unify Ruggeveld and Boterlaar-Silsburg into one coherent space with strong connections to the surrounding parks and streets; How to reveal the existing ecological assets of the two valleys and transform them into a prominent feature of the park; How to resolve the fragmented nature of the site into a strongly recognizable identity. The plan introduces the principle of the ‘seams’. The seams act as an organizing structure to define open spaces and form a network connecting all program elements such as soccer fields or youth clubs. The seams are designed with bending paths, in a setting of abundant trees, to offer an unexpected experience with surprises around every corner. They radiate out to the edges to form entrances and also to complement the character of the surrounding streets. Awarded the prestigious Flemish Spatial Planning Prize for the most innovative and exciting initiative on environmental quality and sustainable spatial development.
_MASTER PLANNING _DESIGN GUIDELINES _LANDSCAPE DESIGN Antwerp BE 2009-ongoing client: city of Antwerp (AG Stadsplanning) program: (national) sports facilities, youth clubs, landscape park, recreational park site area: 85 ha collaborators: Karres + Brands (landscape) 1010 architecture urbanism Goudappel Coffeng (traffic)
BLACK MEADOW OSTRAVA, CZ A NEW CULTURAL CENTRE Ostrava is bidding to become the 2015 Cultural Capital of Europe. Within this frame, Ostrava’s ambition is to upgrade their cultural centre on the so called Black Meadow site, an area between the old city centre and the Ostravice River. The focus of the competition was to create an identity for the area as a whole, while linking the city centre to the river. Maxwan literally designed a black meadow in the form of a beautiful landscape park surrounded by a unifying ring of existing and new buildings. Streets are extended into the site, forming a shared surface, allowing for restricted auto use and free movement for pedestrians, while leaving a core open space. A slow steady slope descending from the ring’s edge to the riverfront is created, with existing trees preserved on a series of grassy mounds. Where the mounds are not preserved a new black paving is inserted, creating a flowing paved public space. The open space is envisioned as an extension of the river itself and connects the city centre to the Ostravice River. The project creates a new type of open space - a Cultural Meadow, where art, family, music, dance, literature, architectural, ecological and social programs can hang out together.
_MASTER PLANNING _URBAN DESIGN _LANDSCAPE DESIGN _ARCHITECTURE Czech Republic 2010 competition 1st prize client: city of Ostrava program: concert hall, exhibition hall, centre for modern music, school, creative incubator combined with a school of arts and management, housing site area: 20 ha
23 PARKS AND 1 BRIDGE A NEW VISION FOR A HISTORIC SERIES OF DISJOINTED OPEN SPACES
_MASTER PLAN _PUBLIC SPACE _ARCHITECTURE Kiev, UA 2011
This project sets out not to create one park, but many great parks. Given the shear scale of the project the idea is not to create a singular grand vision, but to create a
client:
framework for thinking about the idea of a park that is intrinsically related to how to
City of Kiev, Central
successfully implement the park over time. In reality, most parks are composed of a series of separate spaces that are somehow bound together. This design embraces that reality and showcases it. This diverse set of spaces combined with the four binding elements, shown raw, gives the park its distinct identity.
Department for Urban Planning, Architecture and Urban Design program: Masterplan & detailed design of European Square
The park blends the historical with the contemporary. The view of the panorama of the park is highly valued by the citizens of the Ukraine. Historically, the hillside was a series of beautifully undulating hills that are now masked by a mass of monotonous trees. By diversifying the hillside, both in terms of planting and in terms of program, the park will reveal and represent a much deeper meaning to the Ukrainian people. At the time of the design, Kiev was preparing for the 2012 UEFA football championship. As part of the design of the park project Maxwan resolved a missing gap in the primary pedestrian connection by creating a bridge. Avoiding assumed formal or structural gestures the design strives to create a signature place within the park. Besides functional crossing, the bridge is also a place to linger and enjoy the view. At night when the most spectacular football moments of the tournament will be projected on Europa plaza, the illuminated bridge will become the icon of the games.
area: 410 ha
NET.WORK HISTORICAL AND NEW USES LINKED WITH A NET LIKE ROOF STRUCTURE The rich history of rural life in the area is being swallowed by suburban and touristic development. The project seeks to embrace the rural history of the site and serve as a protector/incubator of it. Simultaneously, it seeks to foster the future evolution of these cultures. The proposal looks to put down roots in its history, yet allows for new development to sprout fresh ideas and spaces. In this regard, the site is seen as a place to showcase contemporary and historic agri-culture. The existing buildings are preserved, but the more significant preservation is of the rural culture. The program is an incubator for these activities – crafts, animal livestock, traditional cooking, organic farming, etc. In doing so, the buildings seek to match the scale of these activities and to occupy the entire site - thereby engaging with the land via a series of small structures. The net forms a simple gesture to physically link all elements of the project; giving a sense of unity to a diverse set of programs and spaces. Formally, it allows for a wide range of spatial experiences and blurs what is inside and outside. Symbolically, it is a reference to the farming nets used in the area. Functionally, it allows users to be in the landscape in a cooled space. Perhaps the most significant contribution is the creation of extra of usuable space. Through the addition of the net, 8000 sqm of additional programable space is added to the 3000 sqm of interior space. All at a marginal cost.
_URBAN DESIGN _ARCHITECTURE _LANDSCAPE DESIGN Paphos, Cyprus 2011 Client: City of Paphos Program: Mixed use cultural - museum, gallery, restaurant, theater, public space, library, hotel
OTHER
SPECIAL ECONOMIC BLOCK
_RESEARCH _EXHIBITION
A TOP-DOWN STRATEGY, FOR A BOTTOM-UP TRANSFORMATION
Rotterdam, NL 2012
The Tarwewijk neighborhood in Rotterdam knows a 20% vacancy rate. We turn this vacancy into an advantage. A large proportion of the vacant units are owned by the municipality, which makes it possible that within a few years one or more of the blocks could be completely vacated. The freed blocks then can form the ‘Special Economic Block’, a safe zone from the municipal policy regulations. The blocks are cut into large lots that are free for development for entrepreneurs who issue both a strong business plan and a rebuilding plan as an investment commitment to the area. This principle is inspired by the highly successful Rotterdam ‘Klushuis’ initiative while in this case applied to small and medium sized aspiring businesses and not to housing. We suggest that the combination of: A) the strong urban structure of the blocks; B) the proven entrepreneurial spirit of the participants; C) the liberation of administrative barriers to entrepreneurship; and D) the taboo-free guidance of the architectural transformation, will lead to a bottom-up commercial building, and an inner city Special Economic Zone, or a Special Economic Block.
Client: Netherlands Architecture Institute Program: housing, industrial, office, retail, culture In collaboration with: Crimson architectural historians and Droog, Vincent de Rijk
THE LEARNING JUNGLE VISIONING THE LIBRARIES OF THE FUTURE The Library of the Future is not a building. It is a concept – one that allows for the transformation of existing libraries as well as the design of new libraries of a completely different nature. The Library of the Future must be an idea on how to help the book survive the onslaught of the new media; and allow the graceful retreat of the book as the dominant medium for the storage of knowledge. By giving books a new meaning, they will form a vivid background to the growing offerings of the digital media. The important first step in re-appreciating the book is to free the books from the shelf, and free them from any pre determined order. What if the library were a place that allowed you to write, learn, build, create, discover, browse, etc? But the current library is not flexible enough to allow these things to happen: all books are tied to their shelves, finding books can be confusing, even librarians may struggle to find information, and physical and digital media are completely separated. We need a library where the distinction between digital and print media no longer exists. Enter RFID. It will allow easy check in, check out. Tag-like function allows for easier search options. And RFID means you can physically locate things. This means books are FREE. They can mingle and be ordered by anyone. The nature of the library shifts from a quiet, static place to that of a more dynamic environment. What could the character of the library be? It could take on many forms, ranging from a series of random piles of books to a more traditional layout. But the design quality is that of a park environment with assorted media lying about. Users may chat, lounge, read, listen, and amble freely amongst knowledge and each other.
_RESEARCH _PUBLICATION Rotterdam, NL 2010 Client: Netherlands Architecture Institute, Netherlands Library Association
JASON HILGEFORT United States of America urbanist | architect | public space designer Founding Partner Land+Civilization Compositions; Partner at Impressively Simple Contributor to uncube magazine EXPERTISE Jason Hilgefort studied urban planning and design at The University of Cincinnati and architecture at The University of British Columbia – Vancouver. His work experience ranges from New York (Ehrenkrantz Eckstut and Kuhn – Battery Park City, NYC), to Los Angeles (Behnisch Architekten - ‘Environmental Champion Award’ winner) to Mumbai (Rahul Mehrotra – Head of Planning and Design at GSD Harvard). From 2000 to 2004 he worked with renowned New Urbanist and Sustainable innovator Peter Calthorpe. He joined Maxwan A+U in 2007, he was involved in the ongoing projects Moscow A101, Central District Rotterdam, and Barking Riverside in London. He lead Maxwan’s numerous competition victories – including South Harbour Helsinki [2012], Basel Public space Masterplan [2011], Kiev 23 Parks [2011], Machelen – Brussels [2010], Ruggeveld – Antwerp [2010], Black Meadow Ostrava CZ [2010], Marstall Platz – Hannover DE [2010], Magdeburg DE [2010], and in Kaunas, Lithuania [2009]. Jason won Europan 11 in Vienna, and subsequently founded Impressively Simple with his two partners. In 2012 he founded his own office - Land+Civilization Compositions - for investigating issues of built form, ranging from research to strategies to design. He is a contributor to uncube magazine - writing on ‘architecture and beyond’. EDUCATION 2007 2000 1995-2007
The University of British Columbia – Vancouver, Canada. Master of Architecture The University of Cincinnati – USA. Bachelor of Urban Planning, with a focus on Urban Design Additional studies in China, Cuba, India, and Italy
EXPERIENCE 2013 2012 2011 2011 2007-2013 2007 2006 2005 2000–2004
Contributor to uncube magazine Founder of Land+Civilization Compositions Founding partner of Impressively Simple – Urbanism|Landscape|Architecture Won Europan 11, Vienna Maxwan architects + urbanists, Rotterdam Rahul Mehrotra Associates, Mumbai Behnisch Architects, Los Angeles Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn, New York Calthorpe Associates, Berkeley
ACADEMIC | EXHIBITION | RESEARCH 2014 Professor at Tilburg Academy – focus on Regional vision for Eindhoven 2050 2014 Member of Wonderland platform for European Architecture 2013 Invited speaker to New Generations Festival for emerging European architects in Milan 2013 Workshop leader for ‘Rethinking Felberstrasse’ as part of Wonderland Project Space Austria 2013 ‘Architecture Residency’ at Vienna Architecture Center 2013 Tutor CANactions 2013 in Kiev on ‘Top down strategies for bottom up urbanism’ 2013 Speaker at American University Cairo on ‘Urban regeneration: beyond the building’ 2012 Guest professor at Parsons The New School for Design 2012 Guest professor at HafenCity University Hamburg 2012 Guest professor at Tilburg Academy Architecture + Urbanism 2011 Tutor for Adaptive Waterscapes - Porto Alegre, BR on water resilience, urbanism and landscapes 2011 Workshop leader for Soundings for Architecture/Highrise-Shuffle Conference in Helsinki 2011 Guest Professor at Rotterdam Academy of Architecture 2010 Published research in The Architecture of Knowledge: The Library of the Future 2010 Visiting Critic at Amsterdam Academy of Architecture 2010 Tutor CANactions 2010 in Kiev, results exhibited in the Moscow Biennale 2010 2010 Tutor for LINKED, Russian summer school for urbanism, design and architecture 2009 Mentor for NAI, Rotterdam and The Architecture of Knowledge workshop and later publication 2009 Lecturer Ulyanovsk, RU Landscape Architecture Festival 2007 BASE Gallery Beijing, CN Exhibition of work on emerging public spaces 2006 Research Assistant at the Design Centre for Sustainability - UBC Vancouver, CA 2003&2004
Presenter 2003 & 2004 ECO WAVE Conference San Francisco, USA
MERVE BEDIR Turkey architect | researcher PhD Candidate - Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture Partner - Land and Civilization Compositions KEY EXPERTISE Merve Bedir graduated from Department of Architecture I METU, in 2003. She was involved in a variety of projects in Turkey, Egypt, Georgia till 2008. Since then, she has been conducting her PhD on behaviour and consumption, in Faculty of Architecture I TUDelft, where she was involved in projects about urban regeneration and reuse in Salzburg and Copenhagen. She has several publications about urban transformation, sustainable development, and user behaviour and energy consumption. She was a freelance curator for the Netherlands Architecture Institute in 2012, where she made two main projects on reuse of buildings and urban transformation in Turkey. EDUCATION 2008-…
Delft University of Technology – the Netherlands. PhD Candidate
2003
Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, Bachelor of Architecture
WORK EXPERIENCE 2012
Curator, Producer, Netherlands Architecture Institute, Rotterdam
2008 - 2010
Researcher, Green Solar Cities [GSC], Concerto Project, European Union
6th Framework Programme
2004 - 2006
Architect, Esenboga, Ataturk, Tbilisi Airports, TAV Co., Istanbul, Turkey
2003
Architect, Atlantis Hotel and Resort, LIMAK, Istanbul, Turkey
2002
Intern, Artı Design, Ankara, Turkey
CURATORIAL WORK, INVITED LECTURES AND WORKSHOPS 2013
Lecture: Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt
2013
Workshop: INSIDE Master Program, Royal Academy of Art, the Hague, the Netherlands
2013
Film production: Agoraphobia, Investigating Turkey’s Urban Transformation
2012
Curator: Voids of the City, Re-using Existing Buildings in Istanbul, [with NAI]
2012
Curator: Debates on Tour, Urban Transformation in Turkey, [with NAI]
2012
Lecture: Kadir Has University, Department of Architecture, Istanbul
2011
Lecture: SPREAD, Sustainable Lifestyles, EU Project, DEMOS Helsinki, Finland
2010
Lecture: LIVING LAB, EU Project, Faculty of Industrial Engineering, TUDelft
2008
Workshop/ Marie Curie Scholarship: CLIMACADEMY, EU Marie Curie Actions
2007
Lecture: Politecnico di Torino, Department of Architecture, Turin, Italy
2007
Representative Turkey: UN Session of the Subsidiary Bodies, Bonn, Germany
2006 - 2007
Lecture: ‘Energy and Environment’, The Chamber of Architects of Turkey, Continuous Professional
Development [CPD] Programme, Ankara, Turkey
2006 - 2007
Workshop: European Winter School in Architectural Design, EWSAD 2007, Erasmus IP Project,
Gazi University, Ankara
AWARDS* 2012
Highest prize South Harbour Helsinki First prize Europan 11 in Vienna
2011
Finalist 23 Parks, Kiev
2010
First prize competition Basel Flemish Spatial Planning Prize for Ruggeveld Antwerp (BE) 1st prize competition Machelen (BE) 1st prize competition for a new cultural centre and park Ostrava, (CZ) 1st prize competition Hannover City 2020+, Marstall Platz (DE) Honorable mention urban design competition Science Port Magdeburg (DE) 2nd prize competition Place of the bed in a room (TR) Honorable mention competition Sustainable Floating House on Amstel River (NL)
2009
1st prize competition for a 13 ha master plan in Kaunas, Lithuania
2008
1st prize exhibition design of the 4th International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam
PUBLICATIONS* “The City of Resistance” 2013 Uncube, Berlin, Germany Urban Spaces, Chris van Uffelen, 2013 Germany Arkitera, 2012 Turkey Yapı, 2012 Turkey Mimar, 2012 Turkey Ekoyapı ‘Urban Transformation Special Issue’, 2013 Turkey “What is happening in Turkey?” 2013 Failed Architecture, the Netherlands Yearbook Landscape Architecture and Urban Design 2012, Netherlands Paisea - Landscape Architecture, 2012 Spain AD - City Catalyst #5, 2012 UK LW Landscape Architecture #49, 2012 Korea LW Landscape Architecture #48, 2012 Korea Topos #77, 2011 Germany LW Landscape Architecture #40, 2011 Korea The Architecture of Knowledge: The Library of the Future, 2010 the Netherlands C3 Landscape #318, 2010 Korea LW Landscape Architecture #36, 2010 Korea De Architect, March 2009 the Netherlands Future#15, 2009 Spain
*selection only
CONTACT Land+Civilization Compositions +31 (0) 6 520 66173 info@landandCC.com www.landandCC.com eendrachtsweg 71 3012 LG rotterdam the netherlands