Parc des Jaunes
In Search of Relief
J.M. Meindertsma (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
E.I. Ronner – Mentor (TU Delft - Situated Architecture)
Leeke Reinders – Mentor (TU Delft - Situated Architecture)
J.W. Lafeber – Mentor (TU Delft - Teachers of Practice / AE+T)
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Abstract
Brussels breathes the football atmosphere, and simultaneously deals with issues of tension. Communities of football fans are encountering difficulties to place themselves in the city. The interplay of containing and relieving forces constantly generates dilemmas. Over time, these dilemmas reveal themselves as revolving around the universal values of freedom versus security in the city. This turned out to be the playing field of architectural exploration.
The project intents to understand which borders are present in Brussels football spheres. To understand systems of behavior in order to examine how large supporter groups interact with the concept of the border within Brussels’ football networks. A repeating element in this research is that of the reinvented use of space, where extensions are made, functions are changed, and unique performances are displayed.
In all of this research, the author did not impose himself. He stood, took pictures, observed, and recorded. He left it alone and did not intervene. This is the main characteristic of the site - a coexistence of borders, and a state of nothingness. The project intends to maintain this, respect it, without directly solving issues. To create a space where it can happen.
Three design principles emerged. The first: dealing with boundaries - a search for “soft where you can, harsh where you must.” The second: dealing with ritual - the sequence of events in time. A quest to give space to the natural course and growth of things by providing a base for it. The third: dealing with agency - a search for what agency of actors means for design.
The proposal follows, as it is called, ‘a ritual journey’ along the railway in the Friche: rethinking forms of experience, tension, and therefore interrelations - not only within rival supporter groups but also their harmonious coexistence with public life.