· · · Institutional Repository

Homo Ludens post Olympicum-a post-Olympic Livable stadium for the Bijlmermeer. see www.smartchitecture.nl

In de Bijlmermeer in Amsterdam spelen al jarenlang problemen. Er zijn verschillende keren voorstellen gelanceerd om de wijk er weer bovenop te helpen. De laatste keer gebeurde dat door de Werkgroep Toekomst Bijlmermeer, een breed samengestelde commissie, die eind januari 1990 plannen presenteerde over hoe het met de Bijlmer verder moet. De algemene conclusie van de Werkgroep is dat de problemen om ingrijpender maatregelen vragen dan tot nu toe genomen zijn. Volgens de Werkgroep is een nieuwe stedebouwkundige opzet nodig. Eén kwart van de woningen zou gesloopt moeten worden om plaats te maken voor laagbouw en eventueel portiekbouw. Verder zou een kwart van de woningen van extra luxe voorzien worden, met fors hogere huren. De rest van de woningen (50%) blijft staan en moet opgeknapt worden. De Bijlmer moet een stadsvernieuwingswijk worden, met daaraan gekoppeld de gebruikelijke rechten voor de bewoners. Deze plannen zijn zeer ingrijpend. Verschillende betrokkenen hebben er hun mening al over laten horen. De enige groep, aan wie tot nu toe nog niets structureel gevraagd is, zijn de huidige bewoners. Wat vinden zij van al deze plannen? In dit boek staat de mening van de Bijlmerbewoners over hun wijk en over de plannen beschreven. Het is gebaseerd op een onderzoek dat het OTB onder circa 600 bewoners heeft uitgevoerd.

Amsterdam-Bijlmermeer ist die modernste, idealistischste und meist diskutierte Siedlung der Niederlande. Sie ist außerdem eine der bekanntesten Großsiedlungen Europas. Aber Bijlmermeer wird schon bald nicht mehr Bijlmermeer sein. Die Siedlung wird baulich, sozial und ökonomisch umfassend erneuert. Im Jahr 2010 wird die Hälfte der wabenförmigen Hochhausscheiben abgerissen sein. Und die Bewohner begrüßen diese Entwicklung. Bijlmermeer ist damit ein Beispiel für eine umfassende und integrierte Umstrukturierung.

In recent years, there has been a growing interest all over the world in improving the large housing estates of the 1960s and 1970s. Highrise estates are associated with problematic living conditions, deprived areas, isolated locations, a poor population, a negative image, social isolation, pollution and crime. In short: they are not the most popular areas in town. One of the finest and most well-known examples is the Bijlmermeer high-rise, located in the south-east extension of Amsterdam (the Netherlands). Over the years there has been only one thing constant in this area: the ongoing call for change. In the beginning, in the 1960s, the area was promoted as the most modern place to live, with its daring and innovative design influenced by the ideas of the CIAM-movement (“Congrès Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne”). Later on, the area became well known for its numerous problems. The media found it easy to report time after time about disappointed residents, pollution, drugs, crime and other misery. Since the 1980s, the Bijlmermeer has continuously received attention because of a wide range of innovative measures and promising experiments to improve the living conditions. Nowadays, the Bijlmermeer is in the limelight because of an integral, very radical solution. This paper reports on the approaches used to improve this famous high-rise estate over the last 30 years. We distinguish several phases: upgrading the environment, improving the management, fighting crime and safety, setting up participation projects and formulating integral approaches. The last phase results in demolition on a large scale. The Bijlmermeer is renewing its own future and stands out as the leading example of Dutch renewal policy, not only because of the size of the operation, but primarily because of its integral approach. Without doubt the solutions and experiences in the Bijlmermeer provide ideas and useful knowledge for many other problematic large-scale housing estates.

One of the finest and best-known examples of a CIAM-planned area is the Bijlmermeer in Amsterdam, one of Europe’s leading examples of high-rise estates. Over the years, the Bijlmermeer has been a shining example of the high expectations and ideas of CIAM-planning, the disappointment, problems and stigma of numerous improvement trials and nowadays of a radical redesign and integrated approach. This paper describes and analyses developments in the Bijlmermeer and places them within an international and historical context. The aim of the paper is to show how negative developments strengthened each other and how the early improvements were not sufficient. Nowadays, drastic renewal is taking place, with overall promising results, although there are still major problems. The paper will show that the present policy in the Bijlmermeer goes further than possibly any other measure in the world. As a consequence, there is only a marginal future left for high-rises in the Bijlmermeer. The paper will also show what conditions support the success in the Bijlmermeer: connecting the area within the region, an integrative approach, no fear of radical solutions, financial support and the participation of inhabitants.

ach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg wurden viele Siedlungen als Gartenstadte entsprechend den Ideen der modernen Architekturkonzipiert. Amsterdam ist das herausragende Beispiel in denNiederlanden. Die Kommune plante ausgedehnte Wohnviertelin grosser Zahl, um die steigende Nachfrage zu befriedigen.In den 5Oer und 60er Jahren entstanden die "Westlichen Gartenstadte", in der darauffolgenden Dekade kulminierte dieGartenstadtidee in der Hochhaussiedlung Bijlmermeer. Trotzallen Idealismus, aller gut durchdachten Plane und gewissenhaftenStudiën zu menschlichen Bedurfnissen und Gewohnheitenentwickelten sich die Nachkriegsprojekte zu Problemgebieten,auf die sich heute die Stadterneuerung konzentriert.Wie konnte dies passieren?

Post-Exodus or the involuntary prisoners of Architecture, is a project about corrupt well intended top-down pretentions. A project about when utopia becomes dystopia. About when the built environment becomes out of tune with experienced and desired reality. Accumulating to the point of large scale vacancy and crisis. The focus of the project will be the case of the Kleiburg flat, the last untouched piece of Bijlmer ideology. The project was done in the graduation lab 'Design as Politics' with the underlying theme 'In the Ghetto', in which a personal view on the definition of a ghetto was encouraged. In this project the ghetto is described as an urban area that resonates with negative associations, as a segregated area often associated with the social-economic-weaker section. Due to the unpopularity of the urban area, real-estate values drop, investors and project-developers stay away. Conditions deteriorate. For those who want to leave the ghetto but can not afford to do so, the ghetto becomes an urban prison. The title of the project plays with the idea of architecture's ability to manifest dreams and desires. As the exodus took place and people moved towards the better, they left behind the old. The exodus was for those who could afford to leave; those unable to escape the undesired urban conditions where left behind. Post-Exodus focuses on these deprived areas, on these places of undesired architecture. It searches how to become a desired place once again, even when the means are limited. The research investigates a South-American Prison situated in Bolivia, in the capital city of La Paz. In the old city center, on the old colonial spanish grid the prison of San Pedro stands. Hidden behind the stucco walls, upon passing the guarded gate, a unexpected vivid community is revealed; the self-regulating inmate population of San Pedro. The prison was inspired by the panopticon model (Pentonville, London) of Jeremy Bentham. Built around the nineteen hundreds, this ideological prison model proved to be one of unrealistic utopia. The penitentiary system could not live up to the build expectations. The conditions of the inmate population deteriorated inside the prison walls. Without a welfare state or governmental subsidies the prisoners where appointed to their own ability to take matters into their own hands. Escape was not an option, the solution had to come from within... The do-it-yourself attitude of the prisoners resulted in an unique bottom-up transformation of the old prison model. Over time the prisoners slowly adapted the building to fit their basic needs, constantly fighting for their rights and defending every square inch. They held no nostalgia of the past, adapting to the new reality of their needs, adapting the build environment at best to survive. Over time San Pedro Prison developed its own logic, a mini-society with its own micro-economy, micro-policies, democratic elections, a prison real-estate market, cafes, restaurants, fitness area, sauna's, pool halls, tv corners, shops, dentist, churches, ceremony square, football competitions, tourism, workplaces, jobs and even more.. The San Pedro Prison inspires to look in a different way at the built environment we inhabit. It inspires to think in a different way about our attitude towards buildings. It inspires to think in a different way about architecture. It inspires to see how in the worst conceivable conditions, the prisoners of San Pedro where able to transform their built environment into a more favorable condition, to suit their lives and needs better. Transformation as a continues process, attuning to the ever changing times. Kleiburg is dead, it's ideology faded in the face of reality. Time has changed, Kleiburg stood still. If Kleiburg is not to parish in irrelevance it must once more become a part of our dreams and desires. Emergent societal trends and changes must then form the basis of its transformation. In times of financial crisis, unpredictability and uncertainty the means are limited. The answers must not be sought in the top-down financial power of big project developers but in the power of the ordinary people; the power of the people dwelling and working in and around Kleiburg. The design investigates a bottom-up approach, a do-it-yourself attitude, a gradual growth towards a new future. To clarify such a development a scenario was written in which the existing local social and urban fabric where extrapolated into the Kleiburg building. The initial conditions are dictated by the structural possibilities of the Kleiburg flat itself. The installation of the 'Gate' marks the presence of an underlying democratic process. Spatial hierarchy determines the relationship of space and influence of individuals/collectives on the built environment. In a set of projects possibilities are designed, each design telling a different story, each story exploring a new theme, each theme adding to a bigger scale. By the time we look back at all the different designs we will witness the emergence of museum. A Bottom-Up-Museum symbolizing the deconstruction of the prestigious 'starchitect' object, reconstructed by ordinary people.