Slotermarket

Abstract

The prognosis for Amsterdam is that the population will grow until almost one million inhabitants in 2040 which leads to the fact that densification is needed to house all these people. Another prediction is that migration flows will increase, which means that diversity still will be a big topic in the future. Nowadays Amsterdam houses many nationalities and subgroups. Analyzing Sloterdijk, its demographics show more than 50% of the population is from non-western background. The people had to deal with the consequences of segregation in spatial, social and economical way. Problems as loneliness and a high unemployment rate are reason to doubt the approach of Amsterdam of dealing with integration of lower social classes and immigrants. What will happen when diversity will grow? Will this lead to a bigger segregation? Segregation arises where different groups of people aren’t meeting each other anymore and therefore do not understand each other’s world. The Slotermarket will form a new inclusive center for the local community in Sloterdijk in the future garden city 2.0. The building will house a market where different people of Sloterdijk can sell their goods next to each other. The market should be an inclusive place where different cultures could find their place now and in the future as migration flows are unpredictable. Therefore a flexible structure of pixels is made. On top of the retail functions, housing towers appear above the roof that covers the market. The roof functions as a connecting element, embracing all the pixels underneath the roof. On the other hand the roof is the meeting spot for the residents of the tower. Bridges are connecting the housing towers to the roof gardens with green houses. The inhabitants of the towers share several amenities as cars, workplaces, a sports room, a dining room and thus gardens and greenhouses on the roof. In this market a new typology is proposed: the city in a building, inspired by the souk and bazaars in the Middle East where the market is integrated in the streets of the city and by that is interwoven in the urban fabric. The Slotermarket is interwoven in its surroundings by embracing the green structures of the garden city. The future life in the garden cities will be focused around the ideals of social interaction, participation, sharing facilities and food production.