STEP 4: FINALLY A PROJECT As an example for the range of the final outcome of the studio, two designs were showcased drawing on two different frameworks that were developed during the last 7 weeks of the studio: 1) The proposal “Boxymoron” further developed the framework “Big Box Urbanism”, marrying the big volume of the furniture retail shop and mall with the demand for housing by wrapping the big box in a layer of different housing typologies. The group managed to incorporate both an inventive concept, an architectural tool-box to create interesting synergies by combining different uses within and around the box, a possible process scenario and a convincing overall urban layout and landscape design. By arranging the rather uniform volumes, the group retained the wasteland beauty of the site and yet created a multiplicity of different open spaces and atmospheres. One could find all the diverse aspects introduced in the previous assignments of the studio, a sensibility for the sometimes clashing interests of different actors, a will to compromise, the necessity of contextual sensibility, a sense for different scales, a coherent and convincing storyline and a notion of beauty.
Visualization of the central green. Image credit: Boxymoron, WS 2015/16
June 2016 | CITY OBSERVER145