In this final year project the Latestein grain silo at Katendrecht in the harbour basin of Rijnhaven in Rotterdam is recycled as a Chinese centre. The Chinese community in Rotterdam has been looking for a centre of its own since 1997. Its attention soon turned to Katendrecht, which was once the largest Chinatown in Europe. The silo lost its original use form when the docks moved out of the area. This meant curtains for many buildings with a specific function. In extreme buildings, however, extreme potentials may be lurking. And this silo consisting as it does of 67 hexagonal shafts 35 metres tall and 4 metres wide, is an extreme building. No-one has ever set foot inside this gigantic honeycomb structure, nor has the sun ever shone here. It is the most inhuman of buildings. The silo, its shapeless cavities and rigid structure locked in a symbiotic relationship, can be hollowed out to create spaces for the socio-cultural functions of the Chinese centre. Its structure and the scooped-out space gain expression at the places where the hollow volume and silo walls meet. Gathering spaces inside the silo mesh with other functions of the Chinese centre realized nearby. The structure of the silo is industrial and lacks detail. Its interior now has a human scale, composed as it is of small highly-finished elements. Quotations from the Chinese architectural tradition are worked directly into the interior. The characters and ornaments incorporated in the mosaics lend meaning to the space or route they overlook, and form a parallel signposting system for the Chinese users.

Place of education: TU Delft
Specialization: architecture
Tutors: Adriaan Geuze, Frank Koopman & Christoph Grafe