[DIS]CONTINUITY: interventions of historical Rotterdam

Teera Dhanamun, Jue Qiu, Philip MannaertsArchiprix 2011 TUDelft

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[dis]continuity : Interventions in historical RotterdamArchiprix graduation project -- Jue Qiu, Teera Dhanamun, Philip Mannaerts

Content

. Research of Urban Morphology

. Nolli maps & programmatic comparison

. Time line of Urban Development . Urban scale interventions

. Areal interventions

. Building scale interventions

. Programmatic connection & Composition

. Hybrid composition

. Masterplan result

. City office v.1 - Teera Dhanamun

. City office v.2 - Jue Qiu

. Hotel - Philip Mannaerts

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Rotterdam is the city in the Netherlands which is particularly known for its modern and experimental architecture. Trends and theories of architecture and urban plan-ning from the last six decades, can be perceived by walking through the city. Rotterdam can also recite another story, the one of the city that is lost. At the beginning of the Second World War, the whole city centre was bombed and almost completely destroyed by the following fire. The government made the resolute decision not to rebuild, but to grasp the opportunity to build a new city centre, following the principles of a so called modern metropolis. Today, the city seems to be burdened by the loss of its rich history, but also by the effect of the radical changes made 60 years ago. Literal references to the ‘bombing blitz’ are made to recall the tragic event, in the shape of statues or lights in the pavement showing the ‘brandgrens’. The rich history of the city however, is wiped out and forgotten.

On a shorter timescale, a different phenomena can be noticed. Certain locations have been subject to a succession of unrelated events. For example the Binnenrotte that has been facing different spatial conditions , certainly within the period after the reconstruction. From a canal to a viaduct to a current open square that is now and then being a lively market, otherwise a deserted open space.

This is why an extra layer to the research and design strategy is added. Widening the research field into a fourth dimension, the one of time, can offer long lasting solutions, ones that can endure the changes of time. By bringing back specific characteristics of historic Rotterdam, and implementing them in a contemporary man-ner, a sense of continuity is created. The interventions have the lost history as a starting point, are adjusted to today’s prospects and are attuned to the transformations of the future. An analysis of the morphological growth of the city centre, from the 17th century till 2010, was related to resulting spatial characteristics. For zones of substantial significance in the perception of the city, we determined the specific intervention that was definite for its history of development. Our interference became a combination of emphasizing existing urban fabrics or structures and restoring a former ambience into the current situation. By only minor adjustments, by emphasizing the inherent cultural quality, the most optimal result can be achieved.

The design location is - in contrast with the rest of Rotterdam surrounded by historical buildings, like the city house, post office and other monuments. They dominate the general appearance and create a receptive ground to graft on. In this delicate environment it becomes very significant how a building could endure the changes of time and program, without affecting the functioning of the public domain surrounding it. How a sense of continuity is created, to bridge a gap of future developments.By providing connections with the existing urban fabric, enhancing the interventions of the earlier design strategy and functioning as a landmark to offer a function of visual guidance through the city, the new building can play an important role in the perception of and the movement through the city centre.

The different functions of the building - a hotel, popstage and city office - are tied together in a scheme like a ‘rugby scrum’. The places where they connect or overlap, can be interpreted as the most public space of the scheme. A hybrid ensemble offers interesting relations and interfaces inside the building, and also the opportunity to connect the public areas to the public domain of the whole city. The public part of the program are placed on first (and higher) floors, the public hotel functions are lo-cated in a floating platform above the hotel rooms. This leaves the ground floor open for commercial functions, a passage that offers a new connection within the urban network. The masterplan creates not only a vibrant hybrid space, it also shows the possibility of a collaboration between three designers. The masterplan is formulated together, every single function is executed individually following a prearranged set of rules.

Jue Qiu, Teera Dhanamun, Philip MannaertsDelft, January 2011

Sequence of Urban Development

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urban morphology

1694 1733

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1839 1886

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urban morphology

1925 1935

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1945 2005

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nolli map

Nolli Map

1886 2009

1886 2009

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historical programmatic overview

1886 2009

CommunityCommercialCulturalOfficeResidentialTransport

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Timeline of Urban Development

1694 1839 18861733

17th century Rotterdam

After a century of major growth, Rotterdam became the dominated economy of surrounding town-ships.The ‘Schielandhuis’ is the only 17th century building that has survived the WWII bombing.

The water city

The city was an important mer-chant city. Port activities penetrat-ed widely into the city centre,by the numberous canals and large quaysides.

Filling of small canals

For hygienic reasons, most of the small canals were filled.Still, living conditions remained rather bad, people were living in small and poor houses.

Railway Viaduct on Binnenrotte

Filling of Binnenrotte for the construction of a railway viaduct, running through the city centre.Hoogstraat and the Passage were the main commercial areas.

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1945 20051925 1935

Construction Of Cityhouse, Post-officeLarge housing blocks were de-molished for the construction of a new city house and post office.Coolsingel and other large canals were filled for guiding car traffic into the city.

Breakthrough of Meent

To solve traffic problems, a con-nection between Coolsingel and Goudsesingel was made.Simultaneously, new buildings like the stock exchange and police office were erected.

Plan for reconstruction, Van Traa

At the beginning of the Second World War, the whole city centre was bombed and almost com-pletely destroyed.The government made the reso-lute decision not to rebuild, but to grasp the opportunity to build a new city centre,according to a masterplan of Cor-nelis van Traa.

Current situation

Today, the city centre seems to be burdened by the loss of its rich history, but also by the radical changes made 60 years ago.It is chracterized by open and deserted pulic spaces, out of scale buildings and a lack of historical overlap and ambiguity

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URBAN SCALE INTERVENTIONS

In the area of the original city centre (Stadsdriehoek), eight principal areas that determine the perception of the city, and three secondary areas with great potential, are selected to adjust according to our our results of the research.

The principal areas mainly include important urban streets and urban nodes. The secondary areas are minor locations, but have the potential to become more public and attractive places to stay.

Our interference is a combination of emphasizing existing urban fabrics or structures and restoring a former ambience into the current situation. By only minor ad-justments, by emphasizing the inherent cultural quality of the specific sites, the most optimal result can be achieved.

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Hoogstraat

Meent

Coolsingel

Hofplein

Haagseveer

Binnenrotte

Goudsesingel

Pompenburg

Schielandshuis

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Meent : Breakthrough by Burgdoffer in 1914

Description

- cutting through the existing urban fabric- connection of Coolsingel with residential area- used to be a monotonous image of facades (after the bombing)

Historic Picture of Meent from elevated Railway Historic Picture of Meent from Doorbraak

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Proposal

- emphasis on a consistent and coherent appearance of the Meent on ground level. i.e. same paving, greenery, wideness of the pavement or continuous gradient

Conceptual Drawing

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Description

- connection of north and south of city centre- large (and monumental) buildings along the street, give a symbolic image of the city- wide with tram and car traffic

Historic pictures of Hoogstraat Pictures of reference

Coolsingel : Boulevard after filling of the Coolvest

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Proposal

- look at famous examples (Champs Elysees, Firenze) and try to get the specific characteristics.Then try to implement them on the Coolsingel (f.e. remove pavilions, un-obstructed groundfloors, …)

Section sketch

Conceptual Drawing

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Description

- pedestrian connection from east to west- backside of buildings is low quality- Buildings are lower then in the past- Original Hoogstraat is cut in two by the Binnenrotte

Historic pictures of Hoogstraat Pictures of reference

hoogstraat : long strip as a shopping street

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Proposal

- put some trees in adjacent spaces. continuous pavement (other material, colour, …)- make of the Hoogstraat a more compact shopping street with shops of better quality- reconnect the Hoogstraat with the other side, over the Binnenrotte(extend the pavement on the Binnenrotte to the other side)

Section sketch

Conceptual Drawing

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Description

- 1 linear street, next to the Delftse Vaart, with small building blocks in between.- pedestrian connection, going south- several see-throughs in between the buildings, towards the water

Historic pictures of Haagseveer and Delftsevaart Pictures of reference

Haagseveer and canal: historic linear connection north to south

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Proposal

- emphasis on the linear North-South connection- slow street on the one side, canal with an ‘esplanade’ on the other side, with multiple visual and physical connections between each other- esplanade with more intimate materials (timber or steel plate ‘see through’)- focus on backsides of buildings, make the edge more rigid (soft material). Make the back sides more enjoyable, by adding several bridges, connecting the edges to the ‘esplanade’.

Section sketch

Conceptual Drawing

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Description

- large, continuous, empty open space without any subdivision- First large plane of water, later filled for railway-viaduct, now open space after the underground railway track- Binnenrotte became larger (wider) with the reconstruction after the bombing

Timeline of the Binnenrotte(plein), showing the different transformations

Binnenrotte : Place of transformation

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Proposal

- emphasis on the linear North-South connection- slow street on the one side, canal with an ‘esplanade’ on the other side, with multiple visual and physical connections between each other- esplanade with more intimate materials (timber or steel plate ‘see through’)- focus on backsides of buildings, make the edge more rigid (soft material). Make the back sides more enjoyable, by adding several bridges, connecting the edges to the ‘esplanade’.

Conceptual Drawing: Binnenrotte as a park, different activities

sport facilities and recreation thick grown park playgorund for kids open square at Blaak

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Description

- a node of traffic, around a central fountain- one quite attractive and three unattractive corners- no good connection of the different sides of the crossroad

Historic pictures of Haagseveer and Delftsevaart Pictures of reference

Hofplein: contrast between now and before the reconstruction

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Proposal

- place an object in the middle of the Hofplein, showing the news, commercials, sports- try to make a visual connection of coherence with the other sides of the street, create places to stay, make an attractive traffic circle (at least on the two south sides)

Sketch (from Northwest corner of Hofplein) Conceptual Drawing

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Pompenburg - Goudsche Single : main axis around the centre after the filling of canal

Description

- wide, traffic of cars and trams- only partly covered with green.- rather small pavement

Historic Picture of Pompenburg

Proposal

- attention to ground floor activity- Green tramway completely, grass + trees

Conceptual Drawing

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Mariniersweg : new connection in post war reconstruction

Description

- wide street, low traffic- facilities for people to stay and green area, in the middle of the road- wideness forms a border for the remaining part of the original historic city

Proposal

- focus on the present assets, use the green in the middle and the low traffic to make a nice environment to stay.- more pedestrian crossings, to go to the green area

Conceptual Drawing

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Schielandshuis & Markethall : New develloped area around the monument

Description

- monumental building in the middle of high rises- bad connection with the water- deserted and bald, too much open space- chaotic mixture of different programs- market hall will make area more lively

Historic pictures of Haagseveer and Delftsevaart

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Proposal

- redevelop open space next to the water- make wider bases of highrise on groundlevel, to make the area more dense, compact- match the program on groundlevel with the area (addition of commercial program)- extend the bank of Steiger or build some terrace next to water make a quiet and comfortable space for people.

Conceptual Drawing

addition of commercial area

wider bases for a more compact environment

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AREAL INTERVENTIONS

For the direct surroundings of our site, we continued with the same strategy but worked on a more detailed level.

Six specific interventions are proposed to improve the site and neighborhood, though they are partially derived from the larger interventions.

The pedestrian scale is our primar focus; for example Stadhuisstraat can become a new square to connect the site with Coolsingle and shopping and business area of the Rotterdam; The Haagscheveer can obtain a more consistent quality of a linear north-south street.

Other interventions are specificly chosen to stress the historical qualities of the area, with city-house, postoffice, police-office and Stadstimmerhuis, four monuments next to each other.

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Delftsche Poort

Doelstraat

Stadhuisstraat

Haagseveer

Delftschevaart

Police Office

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The Delftsevaart is extended until the Pompenburg, like itwas before. The Delftsche Poort used to be this gate forcrossing the water on Hofplein.The continuing of the water till the ‘monument’ will givepeople a reference of the canal which was busy and crowdedin the past. It will also give the area a visual connectiontowards the north, to make it more lively.A new bridge is also provided so that the traffic for two sidewill not be influenced.

Historic pictures of Haagseveer and Delftsevaart

Delftsche Poort : connecting water

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The urban structure of this area altered completely after the SecondWorld War, what used to be a big block with an inside garden for thesociety ‘De Doelen’ is now re-arranged as residential block and the policebuilding with the linear square in between.The area used to serve as cultural and recreational space (Theatre andArchery club) but instead of bringing these functions back, we want torestore the liveliness of this area by customizing the area for the presentresidential block (Sportfield and small skating park)

Doelstraat : sport field

Historic picture

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AfterBefore

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A new esplanade of an intimate material (wood) is builtalong the Delftsevaart, next to the existing residentialblocks. It can be a refernce to the former situation, when towater was used intensively.The esplanade is a little lower than the level of the ground,which means closer to water. It offer people a platform toget closer to water. The ground floor of these houses arereplaced with some public functions (cafes, bars, barbers...)to attract more people.

Delftsevaart : Esplanade on Water

Historic pictures

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AfterBefore

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haagseveer : removing of staircases

To provide a continuous feeling on street level, and to emphasize the linearity of the Haagseveer, the existingstaircases along the Haagseveer are moved towards the back side of the residential block. The space is already present.This together with a same pattern of pavement, will cause that more space on the pavement is won.A comfortable pedestrian environment is created.

Historic pictures

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AfterBefore

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police office : re-valuation of the historical facade

The ‘Politie- paleis’ was one of the only buildings that survived the WWII.It was renovated in 1993, but with few respect to the existing building.And extra layer and new roof was added, a pink plaster layer on the facade.The extension of the ‘60s is green and looks out of date.

Historic picture

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AfterBefore

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By creating a large pedestrain area between Cityhouse andPost Office, we make a gesture for opening our buildingtoward Coolsingle. Both physical and visible connection tothe new facade from the main boulevard.The wide space with benches and trees, can become a newsquare, not just a pathway towards the building.

Stadhuisstraat: Pathway and Square toward the Building

Historic picture

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AfterBefore

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High Density Area : Transition from the commercial area

Low Density Area :Slow pedestrain connection fromnorth to south (Haagseveer)

Stadhuisstraat : Pathway and square from Coolsingeltowards the building.

Pedestrain Area Overview

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Value assesment of the monumentIn the spirit of our urban scenario, it is also important to define the historic value of the ‘Stadstimmerhuis’.In an exceptional area in Rotterdam, with historic buildings, a new building can cause unintended contrasts. The ‘Stadstimmerhuis’ can act as anintermediar, generating a link between different periods of time and providing a clue of the former historic value.By determining the historic relevance, and attuning it with the pro-posals of our urban scenario, we can later on take it into account for our design.

Negative aspects- elevated groundfloor on Haagseveer causes difficulties for renovation- rather shallow interior of the linear part- Exterior staircases are nice, but on raamplein it causes irregularity- uncertain condition of the inner courtyard side. (packed and saved?)

Positive aspects- Linear character on both Haagseveer and Meent- Shops on street level of Meent give liveliness to the surroundings- cultural-historical value

Good characteristics- The architectural appaerance is sober but also subtle, nice combinationof brickwork and concrete- Ornamentic elements on both facades- repetitive, monotonous character, mainly on Meent- Haagseveer is also repetitive, but has characteristic elements (ofthe ‘wings’)

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Historical relevance of the area

Burgdoffer marked the area as 1 (closed) block, while it remained open and fallow

Need for continuity on Haagseveer + compact inner city-> close off the street on Raamplein?

We think that we will not worsen the attractiveness of the area by building on the RaampleinBy organising a pedestrian zone in the Stadhuisstraat, the amount of valuable public spaceis multiplied by 1,3!

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Circulation and sightlines on our site

But need for connections from the city house to the Haagseveer and canal.This can be accomplished by openness on ground level on location of Raamplein.

Pedestrian connectionsSight linesHistorical

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BUILDING INTERVENTIONS

The masterplan can also be seen as a sum of different interventions. On the one hand, they continue the principle of the preceding interventions. On the other hand, they search for historic continuation and identification on a wider base.

The direct presence of the historical buildings, surrounding our site, ask for a larger attention to this subject.

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Density

Our site is - in contrast with the rest of Rotterdam - surrounded by historical buildings, likethe city house, post office and the monument on our site. They dominate the generalappearance and create a receptive ground to graft on. This act of grafting is not only aphysical one, every function can benefit form the monumental pres-ence. Still this demandsa careful working method.

Rotterdam is characterised by open and wide public spaces,linear directions. We like to implement more exiting urbanspace, more dense and with more possibilities for surprises.

Grafting

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Landmark

The building offers an Urban Guidance for the movement through the city. In the shape of a horizontal skyscraper, it invites people from further distance to approach the site.

By connecting both sides with a guiding passage, we create the possibility to open up those sides of the building block towards the outside. The passage ends at two small squares, focussedon the adjacent functions.

Passage squares

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Raamplein

The Raamplein adjacent to our site is not valuable to keep. We will improve the attractiveness of the area by building on the Raamplein and organizing a pedestrian zone in the Stadhuisstraat. Still, the amount of valuable public space is multiplied by 1.3.

The connection from the city house to the Haagseveer and canal is accomplished by a connection on ground level.

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City fabric

nDDiiffffeerences in directionof circulation

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CCiirrccuullaatiioonn ooff gguiiddiingccoonnnneeccttiioonn ppooiints

While the whole city-centre of Rotterdam seems to be build up out of long linear connections (visual and physical), with a lot of overview and without obstructions or suprises, our site seems to be the exception.

Because of the 3 periodes of construction of the sur-rounding buildings, few of the existing circulation is taken into account.

Instead of demolishing parts of obstructing build-ings, an guiding circulation of connection points is

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Programmatic connection & Composition

Linking of program on scale of city centre

The site is ideally located in the transition area in the Rotterdam City Center, surrounded by residential, commercial and office space. Our urban scenario strategies can cluster the public realm in this area and generate the connection between all the zones to make thesite to be the hybrid hub for all facilities in Rotterdam.

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office

hotelshops

Linking of program on scale of city centre

Juxtaposition of different functions will create possibilities for peo-ple to meet and for new experiences to happen. The hybrid program in the building is connected to the surrounding context and the city.

Linking of program on scale of city centre

Office, commercial functions, hotel and pop stage can generate together an active and attractive public space covering every whole day. The linking of the program offers the possibility for the whole program to benefit from this 24 hours public life.

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The embracement of different functions in our hybrid programs is the key to achieve our goals in this masterplan. The morphology of a ‘scrum’ in rugby is the way that the threeentities can form 1 unity. In the end it allows possibilities for multiple interfaces, whithin the same building, and between different functions.

Hybrid composition

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Three different building parts are connected to each other in the overlapping part, the part that we call ‘The Glue’. Public Realm will provide the glue is actually the public realm inside that connects three separated identities and generates new cross hybridity. The glue is the part that three designers can design from this masterplan, next to their individual design.

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First step : MassDefine maximim masson site + Raamplein.

Second step : Circulation AxisDetermine circulation throughbuilding, from Stadhuisstraatto Haagseveer, by means ofattractors.

Third step : Opening UpAt the end of the axis,the building opens up,offering an inviting gestureand places to stay.

Sequence of Intervention

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Fourth step : Transparant plintThe plint becomes a continouscommercial strip together withentrances of the differentfunctions

Fifth step : VoidsThe addition of voids to gainnatural light, and to offeropportunities for multipleinterfaces.

Sixth step : Horizontal skyscraperLowering of building masswhere needed, creation of anextra volume for urban guidanceand a view on the city.

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Masterplan Result

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The result is a hybrid composition of four different functions. Simultaneously, it createsthe possibility of an interesting collaboration between three independent designers.Following a prearranged set of rules, every single function can be executed individually,while the inherent quality of the composition is preserved.

Masterplan Result

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