The strategy proposed here for a former industrial area (Ciboga-terrein) in Groningen, is an invitation to the city's inhabitants to appropriate the area for dwelling purposes. The neutral structure provided gives them the freedom to fill in this area as they choose.

The site's existing qualities have been strengthened by treating the Ciboga-terrein as an urban field, a paradox of denseness and emptiness. Large-scale and small-scale activity, multiple and individual, contained and proclaimed can be experienced here simultaneously. All activity is organized on fields that ensure great freedom of movement and choice. Dwelling on the other hand becomes a contained affair concentrated in residential fields.

A site once reserved for circuses has been worked up into one such residential field, as a possible model for dwelling in the Ciboga-terrein. Here, 29 villas of equal size sit on the deck of a sunken car park in a network of introverted streets and alleys, looking out onto the public fields. Each villa has its own character dictated by its position on the deck. All consist of two deckhouses turned to the street and two roofhouses facing the alleys. The placement of a furnishing unit with components that fold and slide out allows each dwelling unit a wide choice of internal arrangements. Differences in external orientation give each space in the unit an identity of its own.

Besides its careful ordering of activity and space, this project seeks to bring an awareness to society, both as individuals and en masse, that will open up new horizons in every sense.

Place of education: TU Delft
Tutors: Umberto Barbieri, Willem Hermans, Peter Lüthi & Jan van de Voort
Specialization: architecture.