According to its users the solution for August Allebéplein is obvious: a comprehensive clean-up operation. And yet the Prix de Rome Architecture 2010 asks what the square’s redevelopment could do for the neighbourhood, for Amsterdam and for the world…

There appears to be more at stake here than the mere layout of a square. The competition also implicitly raises questions about the relevance of the design. Van Eesteren took a scientific approach to the Western Garden Cities, hence the white coat that he wore in photographs. The questions that we now face are utterly different from those anticipated at the time. The future projections that Van Eesteren relied on proved to be less than accurate design tools. So how can the design make an impact on a local level and respond to global developments? How do we act on a ‘glocal’ level of scale?

The answer is a new design position, in which local bottom-up initiatives are linked to global top-down trends and converted into opportunities: opportunities that accommodate short-term wishes and long-term targets within a flexible design.

 

 

Although new arrivals are often depicted as a threat, Amsterdam proves that immigration can be successful. Drawing on its exceptional social and economic openness, Amsterdam has managed to translate the influx of newcomers into success stories for centuries.

Over the next few decades the city will be facing a similar challenge. It is essential therefore to redefine the tradition of the ‘open city’. The Nieuw-West area plays a pioneering role in this. If Amsterdam is to become a metropolis then the process of integration in the areas of education, participation in the labour market and enterprise must be an unqualified success here.

 

August Allebéplein plays an important role in the metropolitan project. The artisanal background of many of the newcomers offers a potential that is rarely tapped into. If Amsterdam wants to measure up to other smart cities it will have to create so-called free zones for enterprise. The introduction of such free zones into existing housing blocks gives their inner courtyards a new use value. In this scenario, densification, programmatic enrichment and the neighbourhood’s economic status as a micro business district go hand in hand and may result in new forms of live/work space.

 

The process of densification can create open space on August Allebéplein. The re-use of slabs along the east-west axis not only establishes a robust link between Rembrandtpark and Sloterplas but also a series of spaces. Each slab has a different relationship to one of these public spaces. To further improve the quality of the urban fabric the swimming pond and Cinema West will be reinstated alongside a programme of celebration and commemoration.

 

The new August Allebéplein is characterized by two large-scale gestures. Along the north-south axis, the square is incorporated in a densification strategy for enterprise. Along the east-west axis the public domain prevails and a pattern is established linking the green space of Rembrandtpark to Sloterplas. At the intersection of both developments a new urban fabric will be combined with a scenic element: the Bazaar Mountain. This man-made element with landscape features will ensure the integration of public transport and life, work and leisure.

 

Finally, the climate agenda for Slotervaart and Overtoomse Veld dictates that peaks in the water supply are absorbed, drought is minimized and rain water is purified. Because the areas to the east and west of Bazaar Mountain are very different in character we propose two different solutions: a technological solution that enables maximum densification to the east of Bazaar Mountain; and an ecological strategy that targets complete softening west of the mountain.