Gentrification affects us all differently and the best strategy against excessive gentrification is the strengthening of the local communities. Students from the Master Interior Architecture: Research + Design program will present their proposals for a community center in the space of Atelier Hofbogen. The Hofbogen is an urban project in Rotterdam that will create a park on a disused elevated railway line and will incentivize commercial activities in the arches below it. The project has been an idea for over ten years, since the railway line that connected Rotterdam with the Hague was decommissioned when the tube network was extended. Since September 2019 the ownership of the whole building was transferred to Dudok Groep (real state developers) who have created a vision for the project, including the creation of the park on the surface and the selection of tenants for the arches.  

Designers don’t only solve the problems identified by the clients, but they should be capable of critically looking at each project and propose integrated solutions that expose and solve issues that have not been seen. For this design studio, the students have been asked to propose an integral design that is socially minded and considers the needs of the local community. The proposals are creative interpretations of initial investigations in the location, the area, the city and the community. Ranging from youth centers focused on the musical history of the neighborhood to migration stories told through the materiality of stones, the proposals are a vivid representation of the diversity of this changing corner of Rotterdam.

Come and visit our window show open 24/7Friday 11th to Sunday 13th of December, Vijverhofstraat 88 and 903032 SN Rotterdam

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Image: Soundscape Agnieseburg, Rachel Refael, Katharina Kasinger, Angelo Ciccaglione, Noelle Ingeveldt, 2020