The design of a social incubator in Lombok, Utrecht, the Netherlands - a regeneration of 'terrain vague' space

‘Terrain vague’, a collective term coined by Spanish architect Ignasi Sola-Morales, denotes the unused, forgotten spaces located in between categorised spaces and artefacts. It is an omnipresent typology found within productive structures of urban environments, yet ‘mentally exterior to them’ , in other words detached from the energies that surround them. Physically, these spaces are identified as traffic circles, parking lots, open plots, spaces underneath highways, or forgotten buildings. These spaces have a strangeness to them, the detachedness from the conventions of their surrounds gives... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Holm, Alma
Dokumenttyp: Master's theses
Erscheinungsdatum: 2021
Verlag/Hrsg.: Nelson Mandela University
Schlagwörter: Terrain vague—Netherlands – designs and plans / Landscape architecture --Netherlands
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-29183933
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : http://hdl.handle.net/10948/58705

‘Terrain vague’, a collective term coined by Spanish architect Ignasi Sola-Morales, denotes the unused, forgotten spaces located in between categorised spaces and artefacts. It is an omnipresent typology found within productive structures of urban environments, yet ‘mentally exterior to them’ , in other words detached from the energies that surround them. Physically, these spaces are identified as traffic circles, parking lots, open plots, spaces underneath highways, or forgotten buildings. These spaces have a strangeness to them, the detachedness from the conventions of their surrounds gives them a sense of mobility, freedom, and liberty. This creates a perfect environment for the exploration of new ideas. Therefore, this unrealised potential makes these spaces best understood as a relationship between the absence of use, and the sense of expectancy. Mobile interconnectedness has created a transition in the way we work and live together. According to Raumlabor (2018), these new socio-cultural and economic challenges demand new types of solutions which cannot be solved by top-down monofunctional implementations (Raumlabor, 2018). According to design studio Knoll (2020) “the home has become less home, and the office type has vanished. Instead, the work space has changed into a playground where connections are made and interaction is fostered”. This socio-cultural transition creates a shift in the appropriation of space, therefore creating a demand for new types of solutions (Knoll, 2020). This treatise investigates a process of renegotiation of leftover space on Westplein in Utrecht in the Netherlands. The site is an example of ‘terrain vague’ centrally located in the city. The municipality of Utrecht has initiated a temporary intervention on Westplein run by local societies and residents of the neighbourhood Lombok. The aim of this intervention is to generate input from locals through the act of placemaking before the reconstruction of the area into a public park. Furthermore, this intervention also aims to ...