Heritage Park 2.0

Abstract

Designing 20th century Heritage architectures may differ from those of the past that are being dealt nowadays. Before modernism, the appearance of architecture had more decoration on façade and different style design from contemporary architecture. Since the development of industry and technology, the appearance of today’s architecture is not very different from those of the 20th century. However, the value of buildings is not just aesthetic and historical values. Kuipers and Jonge said in ‘Designing from Heritage’: “In fact, the aging monuments of the Modern Movement have proven to be less flexible in practice when adaptations to new needs are required, than promised by the original designers. The built legacy of the twentieth century demands innovative approaches to heritage analysis in combination with creativity if it is to meet the ‘challenge of change’ it is faced with.” (Kuipers & Jonge, 2017)In other words, the heritage architecture in the future can be designed for different uses based on various values. Therefore, Dordrecht Vroom and Dreesmann could be a good example of ‘Modern Heritage’. Because it had designed by architect Jan Kuijt in the 1931 and it was renovated in 1999 based on public demand. ‘Heritage Park 2.0’ project focused on the cultural-value, use-value, and social-value of Dordrecht V&D department store. The ground floor of the department store is blocking two main squares, Statenplein and Scheffersplein, and before the department store bankrupted, people walked through the ground floor from Statenplein to Scheffersplein as a shortcut. This spatial value exists, although it is less clearly revealed than the visible heritage of the past. Therefore, the graduation project is researched and designed what is the value of Dordrecht V&D buildings that are important to people even after 100 years from now. In particular, people’s interests and uses will change, and the project was carried out with a focus on what attitudes as an architect should renovate heritage buildings. Therefore, this project has been researched and designed with a focus on the values of modern heritage renovation and, in particular, how the public space should be designed in the future. Furthermore, I think that this method of linking research and design can be used as a reference when developing modern heritage in the future.