Zijn ontwerp is dan ook één groot park. En niet een vlak park, maar een complete berg (naar Nederlandse begrippen) midden in de stad! Hij gebruikt veel niveauverschillen en het park krioelt van de paadjes. Maar hoe fijn een park ook is, het ziet er mijns inziens wat rommelig en bedacht uit. Er ontbreekt structuur, en het enige object van betekenis is een soort driehoekige brug die enkel als uitkijkpunt dient. Ook staan er opvallend weinig bomen gepland. Dit gaat voorbij aan de Nederlandse parkcultuur waarin de boom centraal staat. Delen van zijn ontwerp zouden zeker inpasbaar zijn, maar er zit nu weinig leven in doordat woningbouw en andere activiteit vrijwel ontbreken.
Park
Student: Jay Tsai
My big idea for this project was to create an iconic park for the city of Amsterdam.
But before I came upon this decision I asked myself what this site, which is the largest
parcel in the city of Amsterdam, wanted to be. One thing was certain; it should be given
back to the city and people of Amsterdam, and enrich the local area as it is a politically
sensitive site.
Having the public in mind, I began to analyze existing public amenities in the city to
tease out a solution. An immediate observation upon arrival from the train station was
how the site and area around it is disjointed. Most people head towards the UNESCO
region of Amsterdam where there are plenty of shops, restaurants, museums and other
attractions. Another observation was the great distance I needed to travel to reach
a public park. Vondelpark was over a mile away from the train station. Immediately I
realized, with the given size of the site, that a park seemed to, spatially, make the most
sense. But of course, this park couldn’t just be another park especially considering its
isolation from the city.
How do I get people there and de-isolate it? Offer something they do not have: a hill
and an icon bridge. The benefits of a hill are many as they can create an undulating
sequence of spaces that can open up vistas towards the city as well as creating,
concealing, and producing ah-ha moments in the park. An iconic bridge would be the
focal point of the design. It would perhaps be an object which would attract visitors from
a distance, and perhaps even become a symbol for the surrounding neighborhood.
