The Europan competition for young architects is held every two years; participants are provided with real sites in various European cities as sites. At the same time, places for projects are provided by municipal authorities (which have to pass a preliminary selection in order for their site to be included in the competition). Thus, young architects have a real chance to realize their ideas, and city customers receive an author's project that optimally solves the task.
At the end of 2017, the jury of the competition summed up the results of the 14th session, only 44 sites were announced for the competition. Among the winners of the competition were Russian architects,
we reported on their success in December. One of the two laureate teams - Alexander Zinoviev, Konstantin Budarin, Irina Shmeleva - was engaged in the transformation (so far only on paper) of a site located in the northwestern part of Amsterdam, next to the Transformatorweg highway. The project was named Media Sloboda. Below is the authors' story about their project.
The goal that Europan has set for the exhibitors this year is to take a fresh look at the concept of productivity using the example of a media college building in Amsterdam. It was necessary to propose a scenario that would turn the college into a multifunctional space, and design housing on an adjacent site owned by the city. Our answer was the media hub.
MediaHub is not a building
We propose to abandon the concept of a building as the minimum unit that measures a city. MediaHub is a collection of spaces that provide a variety of opportunities for both education and work. Following Google Indoor Maps, we want to move from the scale of functional buildings to the level of specific premises and what they can give the user.
Web Interface - new transparency
The tool that makes the hub open is the Web Interface. It opens access to the premises and their capabilities, displaying the class schedule, event program, studio occupancy. The virtual interface is complemented by a physical system of showcase facades placed in key spaces of the hub and creating a visual drama.
Curator
The content of what the hub infrastructure will become is determined by the curator. This is the person who attracts new users to the hub. It defines what this structure is. The hub's mission can change from year to year: from a meeting place for students and professionals to an incubator for media startups. The function and program can be anything and depend on the settings made by the curator.
Medialoboda
All site programs are combined into a single structure, divided into two plates - a media plate and a housing plate. All productive elements are located in the horizontal plane: university, workplaces, commerce, public spaces. The vertical is a living plate. It includes apartments of various configurations and can become a home for people of various needs and possibilities. However, the main value of this housing lies in its connection with the horizontal line of the hub. Two plates form a media community, a place of life and work for those who value the filling of the quarter.
