Slabs / Fabrics / Open Space
In June 2010, FABRICations won the most important prize for Dutch young architects: The Prix de Rome, a more than 200 year old award, assigned once every four years.
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Location
Amsterdam, NetherlandYear
2010Program
Square redevelopment, Competition -
Prix de Rome (Netherlands)
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Design lead
Eric Frijters
Olv KlijnTeam members
Carola Böker
Peter Botz
Bas Driessen
Greta Mozzachiodi
Marie Rannou
Angela Sondervan
Laura Caputo
Katerini Duničková
Mikkel Horsbol Lauridsen
Nuria Ripoll
Iris Wijn -
Winner
“FABRICations had managed to find the best answers to what the brief for the final round had described as a ‘complex social, economic and cultural dynamic’.”
— Olof Koekebakker
Participants were challenged to design a square for August Allebéplein area (Amsterdam), with particular attention to reconsidering the role of the project on a social and cultural level. FABRICations responded with a strategy in which local bottom-up initiatives are linked to global top-down trends: a flexible plan to bring together local stakeholders and global developers. First the area was approached enhancing its potential for a multicultural expansion of the city of Amsterdam. As a consequence, free zones for enterprise were used to populate the inner courtyard of the existing buildings, and to establish the neighborhood as a micro business district.
To empower the public spaces, instead, the existing slabs were used to create places of encounter, with different levels of accessibility and privacy. This fragmented hierarchy of public spaces was dominated by the Bazaar Mountain, a scenic and functional landscape-looking element, which ensures the integration of public transport and life, work and leisure. To respond to the different strategical choices, water management was also organized differently. On one hand a technological solution enables maximum densification on the east side of Bazaar Mountain. On the other hand an ecological strategy that completely softens the landscape is implemented on the west side of the mountain.
