Het strandje is wel leuk bedacht, maar dat hebben we al bij ROEST op Oostenburg. De steiger voor bootjes is zeer klein en ligt op een onhandige plek. Daarnaast sloopt ook Howlett vrijwel alles wat er nu al staat. Creatief omgaan met bestaande bebouwing is er niet bij. De nieuwe gebouwen zelf zijn weinig origineel en wederom (net als in het ontwerp van Nawratil) zeer repeterend neergezet.
University City Amsterdam
Student: Owen Howlett
University City Amsterdam is a proposal to transform the Marine Etablissement site into
an entirely new urban district for the city of Amsterdam with a world-class new university
at its core. Comprising twelve buildings and over 140,000 square meters, the new
university for applied sciences and technology would be surrounded by 115,000 square
meters of housing for city residents, students, and researchers, new shops and cafes,
and a series of public squares and parks providing much-needed outdoor recreation
and leisure space for residents of the entire city of Amsterdam. The founding of a new
university of such size in central Amsterdam would be an unprecedented investment
in the city’s future, and a use for the historic Navy Yard befitting the site’s national
significance and five-hundred-year history. Three highly distinct public spaces, the Marine
Basin (a new public beach and promenade for the city), the Etablissement Park (the
University City’s connection to Amsterdam’s Central Harbor, the Eastern Docks, and the
NEMO Science Center), and the Academic Quarter (a public square lined with research
faculty buildings, student housing, and research offices). They provide five hectares of
new public open space for the city of Amsterdam and comprise well over one third of
the total development area. The three public spaces are an organizing framework for
the plan, connecting the site with new developments on the Eastern Docks, the historic
naval arsenal building, and the city at large. The same three spaces also relate the
shops, cafes and apartments of the university city with the faculty buildings and research
facilities at the plan’s core.
The University City would be developed by the University City Corporation, a governing
board with members from city government, national government, and the newlycreated
technical university. Public streets and rights-of-way in the master plan would
be maintained by the city. All lots, including the public parks, would be managed by the
University City Corporation. Housing and commercial lots would be leased for 99 years
to development partners, the revenues from which would fund site improvements, parks,
and part of the construction costs of the University itself. This framework would produce
well-funded, programmed, and maintained public space for the city, and would allow the
public university, over the 100+ year time-frame, flexibility to expand and extend its core
mission.
