Urban symbiosis, build deep and make space

There is a growing need for space in this country. The task at hand is how to give shape to the Netherlands. Should we fill up the entire surface area with buildings and make a homogeneous mass of the Dutch landscape, or should we intensify our urban areas and cherish what little open space there is left? This is the sum and substance of the Dutch Brief.

This plan explores the possibility of using this very compaction to enhance a city's structure and enrich urban life there. It steps off from the perimeter block. It is not for nothing that perimeter blocks in Europe's inner urban areas have for centuries housed a concentration of activities. Compacting old urban centres does not irrevocably lead to verticality. Horizontal compaction enables one to relate to the streets, the squares, the canals - in short, to the city. In its search for the configuration with the highest density, the project experiments with block dimensions, heights and perimeter depths. The urban plan combines the configuration arrived at, superblocks with a perimeter depth of 30 metres, with the specific setting of Leiden.

The fleshed-out block contains a hybrid programme of housing, a bath house and parking. The bath house roof acts as a raised plaza from where the dwellings are accessed. There is space for parking below the edges of the block, so that its dark areas are exploited, the public areas round about are kept car-free and cars can be parked literally at your door. Here, open and closed collaborate rewardingly. Such aspects as access, dwelling type and the quality of residential life are related to the differing qualities of the three sides of the block. Dwelling with a depth of 30 metres requires new ways of organizing the units. Compaction brings the relationship between such qualities as privacy and daylight into focus. The facade figures prominently here as a filter between inside and outside.

Compaction is the production of space, open space as much as built space. We need to find the optimum condition where open and closed are mutually strengthening and mutually advantageous. It is efficient to build deep and compactly; it is also a way to secure the continuity of the city and its public space. Urban symbiosis: build deep and make space.

Place of education: TU Delft
Specialization: architecture
Tutors: Marijn Schenk, Jan van der Voort, Rudy Uytenhaak