Amsterdam-based studio FABRIC won the most important prize for Dutch young architects. The Prix the Rome is more than 200 years old and is awarded once each four years. Last Tuesday, June 8, the jury chaired by Aron Betsky, selected FABRIC as the winner.
FABRIC’s winning design introduces Free Zones for planning, open public space and a Bazaar Mountain. That is the conclusion of a comprehensive process of research and design in which the designer takes a stand. At the August Allebéplein in Amsterdam New West, there appears to be more at stake than the mere layout of a square. According to its users, the solution for the August Allebéplein is obvious: a total clean-up operation. And yet the Prix de Rome Architecture 2010 asks what the square’s redevelopment could do for the neighborhood, for Amsterdam and for the region.
With ‘Slabs, Fabrics and Open Space’ the answer of FABRIC features 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.
FABRIC proposes a densification strategy for entrepreneurship north and south of the square. Along the east-west axis the public domain prevails and a pattern is established linking the green space of the Rembrandtpark to the 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.
By redefining the tradition of the ‘open city,’ FABRIC aims to propose a supported design, which is essential for any sustainable 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 labor market and enterprise must be an unqualified success here.
Images: FABRIC
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