Social Moerwijk-North 2.0

Abstract

How can Moerwijk-North be architecturally transformed towards an attractive neighbourhood with a high level of middle-income families and contemporary form of social cohesion, while maintaining the existing architectural qualities? The goal of this graduation project is to architecturally transform Moerwijk-North towards an attractive neighbourhood with a high level of middle-income families and higher level of social cohesion with the preservation of the architectural qualities. The creation of an ‘imagined’ community with ground bound dwellings for sympathizers will be amplified by the masterplan of Berlage, with the higher building blocks on the edges than the ones in the centre, where the daily life should take place. On urban scale the closed building blocks configuration surrounding the communal inner garden will be turned inside out. The communal inner garden will be transformed to a new and active front side. The former front (street side) will become the new ‘communal’ space for the whole neighbourhood. With this inside out concept the goal is create a higher rate of meeting between the neighbours of Moerwijk-North. The porch dwelling typology will be transformed. The 8 former apartments that are situated around 1 porch staircase will become 4 groundbound single-family dwellings of 200 m2. The merging will be vertical and by degree, which means that floors are rotated 90 degrees from each other. In this way an unusual identity, interesting spatial interior space and high surface of facades will be created, what connects with the demands of the target group I try to house in the transformed Moerwijk-North. The existing load bearing structure will be transformed to this new dwelling configuration with a minimum amount of interventions. A second intervention to the dwellings is to apply the passive home concept on the existing. With this the dwellings will be insulated so well, that there is no need for any traditional heating or cooling systems to create a comfortable indoor climate year round. These interventions will give insight in the consequences on the existing.