With the delivery of the Office Transformation Boompjes report to the general manager of urban development (stadsontwikkeling) Ron Voskuilen, Field Academy, TU Delft, Arcadis and Edwin Markus laid the foundations for a new way of thinking about vacancies. Both government and market parties are eager to make progress with this coalition. The novelty of the approach is that the potential, chances and characteristics of the area and her residents are thought of in first place.
Rotterdam is struggling with structural vacancy of office buildings. It is expected that this will not change in the near future. The municipality will take this transformation challenge seriously. An agreement has been signed with various parties recently to jointly address the structural vacancy in the city. The city is looking for pilot projects for research and implementation.
During a five-day workshop on a 10.000m2 measuring vacancy location on the waterfront, students of the faculty Architecture of TU Delft (Architecture and Real Estate &Housing) worked on a plan.
The programmatic exploration took place around the themes of housing, care, service and knowledge development. First step of the survey in search of potential conversion was thoroughly considering possibilities and alternative applicability of the buildings. A building that meets the demand will naturally attract users who see benefits in settlement there. Ideally, different types of users – public and private- find synergies in each other’s presence. Because they are physically organized, collective facilities and services are purchased to better conditions. A portion of this benefit shall be credited to the owners; the overall operation of the building and users offers new opportunities.
Following a number of urban policy programmes, eventually four scenarios were eventually developed, of which the two most promising were further elaborated. The various programmatic interpretations, assisted by Kitty van der Pluim and Arie Voorburg from Arcadis, were capitalized to social returns. The additional value voor the area, the city and the residents are literally expressed in value streams. Hilde Remoy, Theo van de Voordt and Peter de Jong from the TU Delft have contributed their knowledge and expertise.
Partners:
TU Delft, Arcadis, Stadsontwikkeling, Edwin Markus Makelaardij
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