This final-year design proposes a masterplan for Laurenskwartier, an inner-city area in Rotterdam. The plan's binding factor is the public domain whose essence is the encounter between different social groups. Its built component is a pair of buildings, an International School and a flagship store for Unilever. First, an exhaustive analysis laid bare the social and physical networks. It underlies the masterplan whose aim is to fix disruptions in these networks. First the area is stimulated within its own structure and history with small-scale local interventions (prostheses). Next, the public space is intensified with a landscape element that is to reinstate the link between Laurenskwartier and the river Maas. The third strategy comprises three public buildings positioned as nodes in the network, two of which have been developed with a cutting-edge programme.

At one end of Binnenrotte, a tall International School has been designed that mixes classrooms for the obligatory integration courses with such public additions as lecture rooms, an employment agency, a Starbucks coffeehouse, a mediatheque and a travel agency. This is to attract a diverse mix of visitors and users. The attractive facade system connects the internal routeing to the public space outside. Therefore, the building is a binding element in the public domain, where bilateral integration can take place in a positive atmosphere.

On the other side of the square, we propose a spectacular flagship store, Unilever World. These days, large companies are trying to get a grip on people's lives through ingenious marketing. Yet social groups are increasingly assimilating elements from the commercial sector as part of their own cultural vocabulary. Hence companies shape public life indirectly.

This project is a case study focusing on the role a 'multi-local multinational' like Unilever can play in social networks and what architectural and typological consequences this could have.

Place of education: TU Delft | Specialization: architecture | Tutors: Susanne Komossa, Paz Martin, Bas Gremmen