Artist Housing

Abstract

This project is motivated by the voices of the Amsterdam artists, for whom it becomes increasingly difficult to live and work in the city. The independent artists, activists, working-class people, among many other low- and mid-income groups who gave Amsterdam its unique, diverse and open character, have been driven out of the city centre for decades. Their place in the city is increasingly being taken by a homogeneous high-income group, leaving a unilateral street culture. Most striking about this issue is that artists are often accused of being contributors to this process called gentrification. The creativity of artists is often used by urban policy makers and developers to revitalize deprived urban areas. Their presence changes the perception of an area and forms an attractive business climate for today’s creative-knowledge economy. This adds value to the assets of property owners which causes an increase in house prices and leads to the eviction of the local inhabitants and even the artists themselves. In their search for a new place to live and work, groups of artists started inhabiting old, mostly industrial light spaces but it seems that no matter where they go, gentrification is just around the corner. As a response to this unfair gentrification process and the decreasing amount of affordable live- and workspaces, the final design facilitates a new and permanent ‘live-work’ building for many different types of artists to give them back their right to the city.