THE PUBLIC ENFILADE

from Architecture Portfolio_2023_August

by Tirteen Zheng Wu

HOUSE OF LOSS

FOR-A-NEW-STATE-IDENTITY

Groupmates: Chiara Tobia, Konstantina Schonia

TU Delft Msc2 Public Building Studio (Studio D), 2020

Tutor: Ir. Sien van Dam

Professor: Ir. Nathalie de Vries (MVRDV)

Design Brief

The project aims to revitalise urban vacancies in state buildings via architectural intervention, and therefore re-establish a future-proof identity for state buildings in The Hague, Netherlands. The key words are resilience and diversity: to be future-proof, the space should provide flexible solutions, able to host multiple functions. In other words, it provides a set of spaces diverse enough to invite multiple programs, ultimately promoting exchange and resilience itself.

One of the state office buildings opposite the Hague Central Station, was vacant during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was chosen to be intervened and appropriated for a future-proof identity for the city of the Hague.

The city of the Hague emits a multiplicity and complexity generated by layers of elements in both vertical and horizontal directions. These layers consist of artificial structures, natural systems, and fragments of monumentality. This integration of different layers creates an ambiguous socio-bio ecosystem that determines the resilient identity of the city.

This ambiguous identity, as portrayed in a hand-drawn collage, considered with brave re-imagination of the future work space and some montage drawings of multiplicity and ephemerality, provides first-hand inspiration and basis for designing strategies that aim to reuse the vacant state office buildings in the central precinct of the Hague.

The Enfilade

Our goal is to transform the vacant building to an engaging and resilient space, capable of interacting with the public urban life in the most active manner for short and long term challenges. Hence, we introduced the concept of Enfilade as a leading principle for our design, which allowed us to translate in spatial terms the idea of membrane. The Enfilade relies on two main ideas: space as a sequence and visual connections. This would be the typical distribution of a renaissance palace, where each space has its purpose and style. Openings and closures operate as membranes, their multiplication in space allows for endless possibilities of configuration: what is open and what is closed can be redefined from time to time.

Starting from the Hoftoren as a vacant testing ground, with the enfilade principle in mind, we elaborated the membrane application and introduced a new centrality. Compiling all the intervened spaces by the means of enfilade, we have composed a new central public plinth. The resulting space is indeed able to receive multiple public uses such as exhibitions, performances, debates, just chilling out or walking through. It can operate as a passage, a rest stop, and a destination, enriching the Hoftoren with a dynamic new life and image.