This project unwinds a strategy for restructuring long-vacant office buildings, or zombies. The office market in The Hague is characterized by an incessant turnover among its users. One upshot of this is that new developments on the office market front result in empty premises everywhere. To begin with, I have made a 'zombie map' of The Hague - a map that reports on long-term untenanted properties in the city, and where new empty premises can be expected. The untenanted properties are woven historically with the city so that they belong there by right. They themselves share a relationship by standing empty, being of the same type and often set at a strategic place in the city. They present a new phenomenon: zombies. A zombie is a freely divisible aged-all-over office object on an aged-all-over site. I have provided the network of zombies across the city with conditions for recycling, starting points from which the city can replenish itself.

40,000 people are now working round Central Station; this is a third of the city's employment force. After the Hoog Hage project for restructuring the station zone has been realized, the area will boast 30,000 new jobs. These in turn will create a further 4800 jobs for different forms of services. This concentration creates needs that range from creches to brothels. A city is a generator of needs and so the way a city is used is continuously changing. The needs-generator creates the need for facilities and thus programmatic content for the zombies.

The proposal zooms in on one of the sites on the zombie map. Restructuring proceeds on the basis of conditions and needs issuing from the city, filled out with local needs. The zombie wins back its place in the city and the building regains its meaning, and so the city in turn gains in quality.

Place of education: AvB Rotterdam
Specialization: architecture
Tutors: Hugo de Clercq, Juliette Bekkering, Jacob van Rijs, Annette Tijhuis & Maarten Struijs