Hannah Schubert Second Nature A slow, natural transformation as alternative to demolition hannahschubert@hotmail.com www.hannahschubert.eu landscape Architecture
Amsterdam Academy of Architecture Graduation Projects 2014-2015 Landscape Architecture
Landscape Architecture
Hannah Schubert Second Nature A slow, natural transformation as alternative to demolition
The Netherlands has hundreds of long-term empty buildings. Redesignation for other uses is not always successful. If something no longer satisfies, is not longer profitable and can no longer be made profitable, demolition is often the only option. This project is an exploration in the shadows; it is an alternative answer to demolition or redesignation in a time after the credit crisis. It is a project in which the force of nature is used to slowly transform a ‘failed’ building into landscape. After all, the ultimate fate of every building may well be that it once again becomes landscape – only it does not fit our notion of time to be able to imagine that and see the value of that. The uncontrollable and unpredictable character of nature is adopted as starting point for the directed metamorphosis of a building. The building that will undergo the metamorphosis is the Scheringa Museum voor Realisme (Scheringa Musem of Realism) in Opmeer, commissioned by the banker Dirk Scheringa and designed by Herman Zeinstra. The museum symbolises the failings of the system. The colossus, which has never been put into use, has stood empty in the flat, functional landscape of West-Friesland since 2009. It is a blind spot that villagers have never been able to discover. The design explores the possibilities of minimal interventions that can achieve maximum transformation. Villagers will be involved in the controlled ‘damage’ to the building – by strategically removing parts, light and moisture will penetrate the building, so that the natural processes can occur. Over a course of more than 50 years, the building will gradually be transformed in this way, and it will become an ecological refuge for the plants and species of animals that have increasingly less place in the arid farmlands of West-Friesland. The design focuses on three main actions, which follow one another and are closely connected. The first intervention consists of the removal of the surplus, still valuable material – in order to reveal the soft parts of the building. In the second phase, the building will be ‘modified’: this entails that the floor will be partially drilled open according to a preconceived pattern, so that plants can nestle in the cracks and the process of degeneration is utilised and directed. The last intervention focuses on the act of adding: in order to safeguard the liveability and accessibility in the future, a path is built using partially recycled material. The circular path will cut through all parts of the building like an endless trail, which will become a hybrid between architecture and landscape over the course of time. Moreover, the path will create a new connection between the historic ribbon development and the adjoining park, so that the Museum can once again become part of the village, and the daily walks that visitors can take. The path encircles the real wilderness; but once a year one will be able to set foot on this part of the path, and thus experience the overgrown force of the nature. The project is about time, decay and growth, about the celebration of transience instead of denying this. It is a quest for a hybrid form between architecture and landscape – a new reality, as a result of which a sense of value is created that goes beyond that which can be expressed in economic rate of return. The Scheringa Museum will become a green monument, a real-life ‘Museum of Realism’.
Graduation date 25 11 2014
Commission members Noël van Dooren Klaas Jan Wardenaar Jo Barnett
Additional members for the examination Marieke Timmermans Lada Hršak
Hannah Schubert
Landscape Architecture
pattern of drilled-open floor
zoning map: after 1 year
after 10 years
after 40 years
schematic representation of the transformation over the course of time ( 1 - 2 - 5 - 10 - 20 years)
step 1: removal (glass and soft parts)
step 2: modification (drilling open concrete)
step 3: addition (path)
step 4: accept the process of wilderness
zoom in detail: after 1 year
zoom in detail: after 20 years
zoom in detail: after 1 year
zoom in detail: after 20 years
Hannah Schubert
The bare building after 5 years, if not intervention would take place. The process of deterioration hardly occurs; an arid place - definitely no ‘beautiful ruin’, such as we know and value.
An overview of the interventions (drilling open the concrete floor and removing glass), and the consequence of this for microhabitats and weathering of the building.
Landscape Architecture
Approximately 15 years after the interventions in the building. There is not final picture, the transformation is a continuous and variable process.
Hannah Schubert
The process of transformation is consciously set in motion by ‘preparing’ the building where necessary, so that nature and time can do their work here...
Amsterdam Academy of Architecture
Architects, urbanists and landscape architects learn the profession at the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture through an intensive combination of work and study. They work in small, partly interdisciplinary groups and are supervised by a select group of practising fellow professionals. There is a wide range of options within the programme so that students can put together their own trajectory and specialisation. With the inclusion of the course in Urbanism in 1957 and Landscape Architecture in 1972, the Academy is the only architecture school in the Netherlands to bring together the three spatial design disciplines under one roof. Some 350 guest tutors are involved in teaching every year. Each of them is a practising designer or a specific expert in his or her particular subject. The three heads of department also have design practices of their own in addition to their work for the Academy. This structure yields an enormous dynamism and energy and ensures that the courses remain closely linked to the current state of the discipline. The courses consist of projects, exercises and lectures. First-year and second-year students also engage in morphological studies. Students work on their own or in small groups. The design
projects form the backbone of the syllabus. On the basis of a specific design assignment, students develop knowledge, insight and skills. The exercises are focused on training in those skills that are essential for recognising and solving design problems, such as analytical techniques, knowledge of the repertoire, the use of materials, text analysis, and writing. Many of the exercises are linked to the design projects. The morphological studies concentrate on the making of spatial objects, with the emphasis on creative process and implementation. Students experiment with materials and media forms and gain experience in converting an idea into a creation. During the periods between the terms there are workshops, study trips in the Netherlands and abroad, and other activities. This is also the preferred moment for international exchange projects. The Academy regularly invites foreign students for the workshops and recruits wellknown designers from the Netherlands and further afield as tutors. Graduates from the Academy of Architecture are entitled to the following titles: Architect, Master of Science; Urbanist, Master of Science and Landscape Architect, Master of Science.