Portfolio 2019-2022

PORTFOLIO Diederik de Vries

Postindustrial Maastricht 1

Previous page: A walk along the Bridgewater canal, 2017

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CONTENT

Curriculum Vitae

Postindustrial Maastricht

Inclusive Transformation Tanthof

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BEEMSTER Cheese production in a man-made Landscape

Beemster - Cheese Production in the Anthropocene

Fig. 1.2: van Bolhuis, Peter ‘Areal view. Source: https://www.canonvannederland.nl/nl/beemster.

1.

INTRODUCTION

1.1 HISTORICAL CONTEXT At the start of the 17th century, the Beemster was a big, stormy lake, located centrally in the Dutch province of North Holland. It was located close to Amsterdam, a city that was experiencing an economic boom. Amsterdam more than doubled in population between 1590 and 1610, from 33.000 to 72.000 (Nusteling 2018, p.

62). In order to feed the growing population, merchants of Amsterdam started to look at the possibility of reclaiming land (van Cruyningen 2015, p. 11).

The brothers Henrik and Dirk van Os, who were two of the founders of the Dutch east India company (VOC), saw an opportunity to invest in the reclamation of the Beemster. They founded the Beemster cooperation in 1607. In return for financial investments, investors could buy parcels of the soon to be reclaimed lake. The cooperation hired the local windmill expert Jan Adriaanszoon Leeghwater to oversee the technical endeavour. A ring dyke and a ring canal were built around the lake, and an arrangement of mills was installed to pump the water from the lake into the surrounding canal. The mills started pumping in 1609 and by 1612, the lakebed had emerged (van Cruyningen 2015, p. 11). On the new land, the architects of the Beemster, whose names remain unknown (Mourik 2004, p.

80), created a grid that was used in order to divide the land into parcels (Aten, Bossaers, Misset 2012, p. 3).

Soon after the reclamation, the farmers in the Beemster started to produce cheese. Over the course of the past 400 years, cheesemaking has developed

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Diederik de Vries 1996-10-14 diederik96@gmail.com +46732633586

Education Delft University of Technology Delft 2020-2022 Msc diploma ∙ Architecture, Urbanism and Building Technology Chalmers University of Technology Göteborg 2015-2018 BSc diploma ∙ Architecture and Technology

Work Experience Herzog & de Meuron Basel 2019 12 Month traineeship ∙ Architecture Knippers Helbig Advanced Engineering Berlin 2018 4 Month internship ∙ Structural engineering Chalmers University of Technology Göteborg 2018 Teaching Assistant for Prf. Karl-Gunnar Olsson ∙ Form and Technology Chalmers Division of Architecture Göteborg 2016-2017 Vice President

Workshops Hoogbouw Challenge Delft 2021 Honerable Mention Chalmers Structural Design Challenge Göteborg 2016 Second Prize

Languages Dutch Swedish English French German

Software Skills Rhino/Grasshopper ArchiCad Adobe Suite Microsoft Office AutoCad

Interests Long walks, guitar, violin, bouldering, swimming & chess 5

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Postindustrial Maastricht Year: 2021-22 (Second year master) Duration: 10 Months Course: Graduation Studio Urban Architecture Teacher: Prof. Paul Vermeulen Team: (Masterplan) Oliwia Tatara, Rik van de Wijgert Site: Sappi factory Maastricht Assignment description: My graduation year in Delft was divided into four parts. During the first phase, I conducted group research into how the strong migration in Maastricht is reflected in the use of its architecture. In the second phase, I was part of a team designing a masterplan for the Sappi site. In the third phase I further developed a part of this masterplan and designed a refurbishment for one of the buildings. In the fourth phase, this design was detailed. The focus was on identifying qualities in existing contexts and intensifying them.

Introduction: The architecture of Maastricht exists between two extremes. On the one hand, the centre that seems to be frozen in a heritage policy that allows little flexibility. On the other hand the suburbs, where the change is so intense that time layers are constantly being wiped away leaving only a generic architecture. The site of this graduation project is located between these two worlds, on the remains of the former city fortifications.

The site now houses an old paper factory which in our design is being redeveloped into a new urban district. The factory developed in parallel with the dismantling of the fortifications and its morphology therefore largely follows the shape of the fortifications. A thorough inventory of the factory revealed a pattern of parallel walls beneath the later layers and additions.

In the new design, these elongated machine halls for paper production become passages that run through the heart of the factory. One of the buildings on the floors above the passage is converted into flexible housing for expats and migrants.

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Industrial Assemblage Location

Industrial Assemblage The factory was built in several stages over the course of more than 150 years resulting in a complex accumulation of architecture. The factory now forms a closed-off part of the city of which only a fraction is still in active use. The majority consists of a maze of derelict structures that have fallen into an urban hibernation.

Over the course of its construction, layer upon layer was added according to the needs of the moment, resulting in a superstructure of brick walls and concrete columns, connected by ad hoc shed roofs.

The main body of the factory is a mazelike continuum of dark spaces, waiting to be braught to life.

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SAPPI Factory

Market square

Maas

Bassin

Birdseye view of the factory conversion and its relation to the city centre.

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Between postcard and generic city Location

Cognitive maps of Maastricht drawn by its citizens show the importance of the city wall.

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Between postcard and generic city Maastricht has two faces: the postcard city and the generic city.

The division is made in a very clear way, at the location of the former fortifications of the city. The postcard city currently has over 5000 listed buildings, of which a big majority are located in the inner city. It has become the focus of the Maastrichtian identity project. Due to monument preservation laws, the postcard city has become inflexible and it now requires a range of generic buildings outside of the former fortifications that cater for the needs that it can no longer support by itself.

In contrast, the generic city is consistently not included in the identity formulations that are produced by the municipality.

In accordance with Rem Koolhaas observations in The Generic City, the centre’s “illusory presence denies the rest of the city its identity.” Interestingly, the site sits immediately in-between these two worlds. Any development on the site therefore needs to position itself in relation to this persisting border condition.

Site

Logistic centres

Education

Monuments

Protected areas

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1000 m

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Passages and a green belt Masterplan

Passages and a green belt The design of the masterplan puts its focus on integrating into the structure that was inherited, and giving it new meaning. By transforming the northern factory into a park and opening up a disused railway bridge for pedestrians and cyclists, we reconnect the ring, creating an uninterrupted 2.5 kilometer park. The southern factory is dominated by a large monolithic superblock. Its morphology is strongly related to the city wall, from which layers grew towards the south and the north. In the new design, the superblock needs to be made accessible. We chose to do so by placing the circulation through the block in two prominent buildings, which emphasize the direction which is already present in the existing structure. I chose to elaborate the design of the southernmost and oldest part of the block, which crucially contains one of the passages.

The railway line is opened up for the public

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Masterplan for the SAPPI factory

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Buildings that were elaborated on an architectural scale

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Living between walls Masterplan

A

Foodcourt Shop

Cider factory Office

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3 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11

10 9 8 7 6 5 4

23 22 21 20 19

Shop Office Shop

Shop

Kitchen Office

Restaurant

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Ground Floor

Between Walls The idea of the project speaks the most clearly from a section cutting through the ribbons. The walls of the factory, with their rich layers and textures emerge as the silent witnesses of the past. Everyday life happens in-between. The design celebrates the incremental growth of the factory and activates it by introducing sunlight and activity between the walls.

It is at this intersection between the long developments of buildings through time

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Walled Passages

Section A-A - Walled passages 0

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Living between walls Masterplan

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First Foor

and the temporary inhabitation that occurs within their walls that the memory and the life of the city is created. The ambition of my project is to make the latent structures of the site resonate with the appropriative force that exists within the city of Maastricht.

The architectural tool that is use for this is carving the mass of the factory, in order to make the richness of the walls available for the collective, and allow for new memories and traces to build The porosity of the walls organizes the space by indicating transitions from public to private.

The quality of the existing walls

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20 m

Walled Gardens

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10 m

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Migrant habitation practices in Maastricht Case Studies

The Migrant City In the first phase of the project I was part of a research group focusing on the theme of the migrant city. The investigation asked questions such as: who is a migrant? What is home? How do migrants use the city of Maastricht? Conversations and encounters with migrants led us through the streets, squares and parks of the city, but also introduced us to the intimacy of doorsteps, dinner tables, hallways and bathrooms.

As a response to our inquiry, the city presented itself to us as an assembly of appropriated spaces, where communities and individuals express themselves in the everyday. Every door could be a gateway to another microcosm. Acts of home-making and appropriation extend ed in networks across the city, often overlapping but also occasionally distinguishing themselves with uniqueness and diversity.

The work eventually resulted in three case studies which were presented in an exhibition.

They repre-sent a selection of the communities we encountered and the places they have appropriated. The case studies show how different cultures can use space in various ways ranging from the expressive Italian family culture outside of La Bottega di Gemma, the intimate dining experience in Wen Chow to the discrete meeting point for Thai students in Nok’s living room.

La Bottega di Gemma - Facade Model

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Migrant habitation practices in Maastricht Case Studies

Wen Chow - Intimite conversations arround each table

Wen Chow - A small ecosystem. The cooks live in the former hotel upstairs.

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Nok’s living room - Small memory tokens remind visitors of Nok’s Thai heritage.

Nok’s living room - A small pocket of Thai culture on a dutch rowhouse estate.

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Dwellings for modern nomads Flexibility and community

The building that I chose to develop in further architectural detail is the narrow strip covering the passage towards the Meuse. The building mass above the passage consists of two floors covered with Prussian vault ceilings. The design is tailored for the highly mobile international community of Maastricht, which requires high flexibility. In order to allow the entire vaulted space to be inhabited, galleries are suspended next to the building itself. The apartments are accessed through enlarged openings in the wall, whose thickness allows for a small transition space from the gallery which can be personalized by the inhabitant of each apartment. Inside, the apartment presents itself as a classic hotel room, perfect for the short stay dweller, which can be extended to either side with optional extra space. In the detailing, the emphasis is put on the contrast between the age, the weight and the texture of the existing brick walls and the new additions made from lightweight steel and timber.

Base unit

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Base unit

The apartments units are designed in a way so that they can be extended

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Dwellings for modern nomads Carving between the walls

Thick masonry walls carry traces from the past and allow transition spaces to be carved out in their mass.

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Existing Situation The buildings are currently used for storage. The larger building will hold the housing units and the smaller the collective spaces.

Carving The roofs are removed and openings in the wall that have been filled in over time are reopened, allowing light to enter. The openings are made larger by cuting underneath the original openings, creating space for doors or leaving a bench.

Gallery The main building is only 8 meters wide, so circulation is organised on a suspended gallery, keeping the ground floor collumn free.

Modern appliances Additional insulation packages, ensuring modern standards are added to the inside of the existing walls. A central ventilation shaft runs along the roof, branching out for every two units.

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South Facade

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Section 0

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Dwellings for modern nomads Masonry mass and lightweight additions

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1. Girder Connection Concrete Piedestals are lifted onto pins which are anchored in the existing brickwork. The girder supporting the gallery is bolted to a plate which rests on the piedestal.

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2. Existing Masonry Arch Original masonry arch. Reopened by removing infill bricks.

3. Window Tripple glazed, wooden window frame.

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4. Wall Surface The opening under the existing vault is enlarged by cutting into the lower edge. The surface of the wall here is visibly cut, not knocked out as above.

5. Ballustrade Steel ballustrade with wooden handrail. Steel twined netting.

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6. Doorstep Concrete doorstep on betumen matt, emphasising the weight of the wall. 1o Incline.

7. Outer Gallery Support The support consists of a cylindrical clamp which is wealthed to a L profile, which in turn is bolted to the walkway frame. Bolts clamp the floorboards between the ballustrade and the steelf frame, holding them in place.

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8. Door Wooden door and frame. A Triple glazed window allows light into the apartment. The deapth of the wall allows the door to open to the outside, making the small hallway easier to use.

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Bench A part of the wall section underneath the window is kept to create a small bench. The brickwork is covered by a concrete surface

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GSEducationalVersion

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Inclusive Transformation Tanthof Year: 2021 (First year master) Duration: 3 Months Course: Design studio Towards an inclusive living environment Teacher: Birgit Jurgenhake Team: (masterplan) Taija Love, Linda Hammerschlag Location: Tanthof, Delft Assignement description: Tanthof in Delft is a neighbourhood that is struggling with an aging population. The assignment was to design a masterplan for part of the neighbourhood, and design the refurbishment of one of the housing blocks, focusing on the needs of different age groups.

Introduction: As a country, the Netherlands has a very high population density, but looking at the micro level the population density is very low. The average Dutch person has a living space of 65 m2 per person. In neighbouring countries Belgium and Germany, this figure is around 45 m2. This fact points to several problems in Dutch society, for example consumption behaviour that makes a negative contribution to the climate problem, but also to a cause of the growing loneliness, which is certainly a problem among the elderly. Tanthof is in many ways a typical Dutch post-war residential area and I think it is therefore a good laboratory to look for solutions to these kinds of issues.

The densification task started with the realization that the neighbourhood is surrounded by a belt that stems from Bakema’s original design. The U-shaped blocks originally overlooked this green belt, but are now boarded up with fences, separating the individual gardens. The first step was therefore to close the blocks and cut out a common area in the middle, which can be used by the residents. I then added a gallery on top of the existing terraced houses which is easily accessable with an elevator in the main building wing facing the street. A number of the homes will be split, in order to make the upper floors that are difficult for elderly to access available for starting families.

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Living arround the courtyard Inclusive dwellings

Masterplan Tanthof West 0

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When Tanthof West was originally planned based on the model of the Delft city centre. It has a central axis, a main square and a green belt surrounding it. In this masterplan I propose to accentuate these urban qualities in Tanthof. The central axis through the neighbourhood is densified, giving it a more urban character and the green belt surrounding the neighbourhood is reconnected at the western and eastern ends which are currently occupied by underused parking spaces.

Location in Delft

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co-housing

Ground Floor Plan 1:200

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Families

Starters

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10 m

Elderly

North Elevation 1:100, 0 1 2

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5m

Reuse of existing structure Inclusive dwellings

The original concrete structure from the 1980s can be reused almost entirely. In order to densify the block, a gallery is added on top of the rowhouses, allowing for an extras story of lightweight single story apartments. The north-western corner of the block which currently has poor access to natural light is replaced by a four story addition. In the south, a new wing is added, facing the park. The new additions are made using wood and white plaster finishing, contrasting with concrete and brick palette of the existing architecture.

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First floor Plan 1:200

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shared space co-housing

West Elevation 1:100

Section A-A 1:100 Bikes

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Typological variety Inclusive dwellings

Half of the rowhouses are split, allowing elderly people to have a big ground floor apartment, and freeing up the first floor square meters for starting famillies.

The redevelopment gives rise to a large variety of appartment typologies.

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Washing

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Third floor Plan 1:200 0

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East Elevation 1:100

Section B-B 1:100

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Beemster: Cheese production in the Anthropocene Year: 2020 (First year master) Duration: 3 months Course: Positions - Delft Lectures on Architectural Design & Research Methods.

Temporalities Teacher: Marten Kuijpers Team: Francesca Guarnieri, Lucca Fischer, Marijn Soeterbroek, Reinier Kok, Sarvin Sarabi Daryani Location: Beemster polder Assignment description: In this team assignment I conducted research into the architecture of the Beemster polder, one of the earliest land reclamations in the Netherlands. We were asked to approach the theme from a contemporary ecological philosophy, which contrasts with the enlightenment ideas from which the polder emerged.

Introduction: Ecological philosophy sees reality as relational. Something can only be understood in relation to other things and vice versa. To understand the architecture of the Beemster, we therefore chose to look at it through the lens of something it is closely related to, namely cheese production.

We discovered a fragile balance between a slowly subsiding ground, the romantic idea of a cow in the meadow, a 17th century street and ditch plan and the continuous technical progress of the pumping stations that keep the polder dry. De Beemster is an example of a utopia and was interesting to me because it shows a design can change over time as it had to adapt to new circumstances.

Opposite Page: Map of the Beemster from 1658, drawn by Daniël van Breen https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beemster#/media/Bestand:A_Beemsterlants_Caerte_Dani%C3%ABl_van_Breen_1658.jpg

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Idealism and ecological entanglements Adaptions after biological tiping points

The (architectural) history of the Beemster can be understood and interpreted in many different ways. By analysing it through the lens of cheesemaking, we have identified a number of tipping points in the local biological system of the Beemster, which have all been instigated by humans. These tipping points are the conversion of wetlands into farmland in the early middle ages, the subsequent flooding and creation of the Beemster lake due to subsidence and peat excavations, and finally the 17th century reclamation of the land.

Ownership

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We identified a process which took place after each tipping point, evolving in three steps.

Cheesemaking was central to the period following the latest tipping point. First there was BEEMSTER the initiation, the idealistically driven period when farmers were attempting to turn the Cheese production in a man-made Landscape Beemster into a garden where they would grow crops. The pattern of moats and the form of the farmhouses was driven by a search for geometric clarity. Following this initial phase came a period of adaptation and growth. The grid layout was refined to suit the needs of the farmers, who switched their focus to dairy farming. The cheese production process was adapted to the local conditions where it was hard to create milk cellars, resulting in the typical full fat cheese of the Beemster. In recent years, the polder has finally started to slowly enter a stage of ecological awareness. Some farmers now choose to keep their cows inside since their 17TH CENTURY - FARM 17TH CENTURY - COOPERATIVE 21ST CENTURY - FACTORY weight requires a low groundwater table, resulting in increased subsidence. Counterintuitively, farmers are paid more if the cows are outside, despite the fact that the animals themselves prefer modern stables. The polder is now in a limbo between on the one hand its heritage value and on the other hand, an ecological crisis that is on the brink of unfolding.

19th Century - Cooperative

21st Century - Business Coorperation

Farm

Factory farm

Factory

Street Canal

Street Canal

Street Canal

Use and occupa�on

Morphology

17th Century - Farm

Farm owner: leisure farm Farmer: work (lease) + live Farm-land owned by investor (VOC merchant) & leased to farmer

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Cheese coopera�ve: produc�on Factory worker: work only Factory-farm Small plots united in larger plots under the ownership and management of family business or coopera�ves

Factory owner: produc�on Factory worker: work only Factory Ever larger plots under the ownership of large cheese produc�on companies

Ca 1000: Exploatiation of the wetlands

1660: Reorganisation and refinement of the watertables and milling system.

Ca 1600: The Beemster lake

1700: Transition from horticulture to dairy farming

Section through time

1612: The reclemation of the lake by a watermanagment system constisting of: a ring canal, 50 windmills and a grid of moats.

1850: Introduction of steam powered waterpumps, allowing the polder to be dry 12 months a year.

1612: Idealised layout according to roman principles of cardo and decumanus

1950: Water tables are lowered due to a national food crisis.

1643: Natural water tables

1643: Land division according to soil quality

1970: Artificially low water toubles cause increased subsidence.

2000: Dynamic water tables further allow further farming flexibility.

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