Land of Beacons
Winning competition proposal illustrating a new urban vision for Ymuiden
Awarded the Basis Prize in the 2006 Prix de Rome, this winning submission proposed a new urban vision for Ymuiden, an important port and crucial industrial city in the Netherlands. The new vision is a multiple one, relying on several interventions and carefully located designs, to trigger and activate certain potentials within the urban fabric. A sort of urban acupuncture.
The development of the Ymuiden area will be steered by large trends instead of local master plans. By recognizing these trends and providing places to accommodate them, a set of buildings called Beacons are the focal starting point of the evolution of the area. Beacons continue with the mechanisms at work in Ymuiden. They induce the growth of urban matter without creating the need for extensive support through infrastructure, large land acquisition or political backup. Instead of altering what is found, they overlay, intrude and extend - taking advantage of what is already there, absorbing and transforming the past. Together they form a network of potential for the city.
The Beacons are: the BREAKWATER BEACH HALL, the CULTURE FIELD, The CITY VERANDA, BEEHIVE, the FLOATING DUNE, the DUNE SHELTER, The Y-CHAMBER, the WATER MONUMENT and ELBOW INSTITUTE.
Area
2 km radius (Fort Island - North Sea canal)
Team
Eva Pfannes, Sylvain Hartenberg
Collaborators
Verena Balz, Bruno Vermeersch, Eric Klarenbeek, Maartje Dros, Leon de Lange, Asli Cicek, Joop Smulders, Vincent de Rijk, Lucy Kennedy-Martin
Notes
Winner of the Prix de Rome Basis Prize
