UNDERGROWTH | E14 Winner
2017
EUROPAN14 Winner
International Competion
Type: Public space
Area: 19.000 mq
Status: Award ceremony March 2018
Promoter: Europan Europe + City of Amsterdam
Undergrowth consists of bushes and plants growing together under the trees in a forest.
We should deal with the undergrowth of Sloterdijk area. No transformations in the sense of a new, more vibrant and diversified urbanity will be possible while this part of the city remains composed of mere high, mono-functional and isolated buildings. We need to take care of and give form to this empty and generic space around them; we need to work on definition and proportions of open spaces. The renovation of Piarcoplein is an opportunity to welcome this attitude and take a step towards a wider transformation.
Within an area that already has plenty of parks and other vaguer open spaces, it is strategic to typologically think about the future Piarcoplein as a square, able to receive all the systems that arrive there and to foster vibration and proximity in the neighbourhood.
A square is a precise answer to rethinking the productive city: a hybrid space like a support for different aspects of city life. Naturally characterized by compresence and proximity of activities, a square can spatially interpret a new idea of production, more circular and diffused.
Lively squares need to be mainly mineral, enclosed and defined by continuous and active borders. So, erecting new volumes is a necessary operation. Proportions of the buildings are crucial in order to dialogue with the groundscape.
