Vicente Molina Domínguez

WASTE?LAND . Europan 12 . ASSEN

Mtres Studio

A New Urban Condidition: We propose a new, smarter way to foster growth, and transform Havenkwartier, into an urban community in Assen. Through an in depth analysis of the commodities, industries, and people within the site and the region. This strategy is designed to identify the existing resources and inherent knowledge embed­ded within the site, to create a community ecosys­tem that naturally fosters growth in the district.

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”
Philosophy V. Form: This is a philosophy that is geared to activate a period of transformation in relationship to the nieghborhood's place in Assen, and more broadly the Netherlands and all of Europe. The area is experiencing a crisis of urban identity and this strategy, using the site’s latent resources, will be able to smoothly transition the industrial park into a thriving community. This process rests on the ability to strategically break down the monolithic buildings of the existing indus­trial zone to a human scaled community-centric growth. This project acknowledges the shift in modes of industrial production in the 21st century, and offers a way for industry to adapt and evolve with the passage of time.
The Role of the Architect: This new process is not dependant on the architect as a rigid planner but reimagines the role of the architect, allowing the ideas and tools of the system to foster growth in a way that smoothly and intelligently tackles transitio­nal moments in a neighborhood. The idea has applications that reach beyond Assen and can be used as a model worldwide. By laying the framework, but not over-designating it, the strategy empowers those within the community to shift the role of the citizen in the city from a passive inhabi­tant to an active member, and the role of an archi­tect from a designer of solely form, to a catalyst that orchestrates and facilitates the evolution of the city.

INVENTORY OF INDUSTRY
The implementation of these ideas in Assen began with a close analysis of the existing buildings and industries on the site. As Assen looks to the transi­tion the Havenkwartier into the 21st century, a realistic look at the efficiencies of the existing buildings and industries need to be considered. Through careful investigation, we began to form a catalogue of the Havenkwartier’s own ‘kit of parts'. Our look into the industry existing on the site has synched with larger global trends of industrial relocation. As industries move they leave behind their considerable excess that is required of large scale production. Industry still drives Havenkwar­tier, but it is slowly declining. Those left have revea­led that these industries operate with excess space, and that the vacant spaces left behind have yet to be appropriated. The strategies are designed to engage the existing users and inhabitants to reclaim for the city those spaces which are sitting unused, while still allowing for the industry to opera­te at its fullest capacity as a driver during the neigh­borhoods transition.
What is left behind is not only the space and buildings of the manufacturing era, but a variety of materials, resources, and equipment that can be added to the tools of the initiatives looking to reuse those spaces. This large-scope catalogue allows for a more comprehensive look at the idea of context and sets the neighborhood up for a larger list of options to transition to the 21st century.
INVENTORY OF OBJECTS
With the research of the trends and conditions of the region combined with an extensive catalogue of the contents of the site, the inhabitants of Assen begin to have the tools and means necessary to implement micro-stages of the strategy with increa­sed ease. The combination of these resources can be combined and tinkered with to create a variety of small scale interventions, that can begin to scale up to the macro or down micro.

Autores:
Vicente Molina Domínguez
Colaboradores:
César Molina Domínguez, Matthew Wesley Sholander, Óscar Llorente Martínez, Alfonso Aracil Sánchez, Paula Adriana Vidal García, Ariel Minelli