Tarwewijk:
Metro in de Buurt

map of the new design for the neighbourhood with various overlays, scale 1:500PondPlaygroundFieldLess private area with(vegetable) gardensSmall squareCinemaentrancePrivate area with localvegetable gardensPublic parkHalf privateMoreprivate123
  • water
  • trees & bushes
  • green - public
  • green on buildings
    (both public and private)
  • (vegetable) gardens
  • paths
  • raised street
  • stairs
  • road

A design project in the second year of the bachelor Bouwkunde (Architecture & the Built Environment) at TU Delft. The challenge was to create a new design for a neighbourhood in Rotterdam South, specifically the Mijnkintsbuurt in the Tarwewijk district.

In my design, a central pedestrian street is elevated and winds through a hill of terraced buildings with organic shapes that tempt to be explored.

The project contains a combination of housing and public functions. The spaces inside the terraced buildings can be used for public functions that don't require much daylight, which can provide value to the neighbourhood locally and make it more attractive as a destination as well, helping to justify adding a new station on the elevated metro running next to the neighbourhood.

2 sports halls cinema parking garage
3 floors metro station
section drawing of the design
first perspective impression drawing in black-and-white1
second perspective impression drawing in black-and-white2
third perspective impression drawing in black-and-white3
birdeye view clay render of the building volumes

Metro in de buurt

A central piece of the design is establishing a direct connection from the close-by metro into the neighbourhood through an elevated pedestrian road. The extra stop on the elevated metro will enable a better connection to the city centre.

a map showing the metro connection from the centre of Rotterdam to the neighbourhood

Past visions of the future

An inspiration were 19th and early 20th century ideas of what a future city might look like. The layering of functions and 3-dimensionality of the useable space is a key theme in my design. However, in these images it is striking there is not a single piece of greenery. My design is quite the opposite, resembling more a green hill, with public and private greenery on all levels and along the facades.

a futuristic view of a city from 1910, with lots of stacked streams of transport
Manhattan, New York, by Richard Rummell, 1910-1911

First Sketches

scale model top viewscale model perspective viewplan sketchperspective sketch

A radical idea

scale model top viewscale model perspective viewplan sketchperspective sketch

A balance

scale model top viewscale model perspective view
plan and section sketch
layered sketch of the plan with different colours