On Mr. Visserplein in Amsterdam I have projected a congress centre with space for five auditoria, a communal foyer, a hotel with 36 suites, a basement parking structure for 350 cars and an exhibition area. The latter space, entirely surrounded by glass and taking up almost the entire surface of the building, stands at street level. Most functions are below ground. The result is a covered plaza, an urban showcase suitable for numerous purposes. It can be used to hold medium-sized events but can also do duty as an urban display window during such extravaganzas as the Hiswa Boat Show.

The first idea for the plan came to me from my term paper 'Ode to nothing', on the meaning of emptiness in urban spaces. It is a call to recognize the significance of historically evolved emptiness in the city and to appreciate it as such. Besides, I feel that compaction in the urban realm should be optimized so as to be able to retain that emptiness in and around the city.

Place of education: AvB Amsterdam
Specialization: architectuur
Tutors: Herman Zeinstra, Lars Zwart & Henk Meijer