Makers Neighbourhood

TEAM DATA

Team Representative: Alessandro Macaluso (IT) – architect and urban designer
Associates: Carlotta Basoli (IT) – landscape architect; Andrei Deacu (RO) – urban designer; Giovanni Lavanna (IT) – architect

Drakenbergsgatan 8, 11741 Stockholm (SE)
+46 (0)73 7399884 – info@up-4.org – up-4.org

See the complete listing of portraits here 
See the site page here 

^{G. Lavanna, C. Basoli, A. Deacu & A. Macaluso}

INTERVIEW
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1. How did you form the team for the competition?

We have been working and collaborating with each other on several occasions, but never all together. Europan 14 felt like the perfect opportunity to form a team, and since three of us have been living and working in Amsterdam, we decided to take on the challenge of the site of Papaverdriehoek. We are four architects, and each of us has a different focus and expertise. This multidisciplinary background is the strength of our group which gave us the right approach for the competition.  

2. How do you define the main issue of your project, and how did you answer on this session main topic: the place of productive activities within the city?

We have proposed an all-round project providing both a conceptual and flexible masterplan for the strategic site and a specific design for the project site. In the project site we applied, at a smaller scale, all the conceptual principles we have developed in our overall strategy. Today, the site holds the valuable De Ceuvel project, that gives the area character and strong identity. Our main goal is to integrate and implement the new functions and needs of the site while preserving and getting inspired by the current features and atmosphere.
 

3. How did this issue and the questions raised by the site mutation meet?

Despite the urban scale changes, our aim in the project is to preserve the rugged, self-made and active atmosphere of the site, and enrich it through the new development. The traditional scheme, where productive activities are placed on the ground floor and housing on top, is revolved. The overall program, half living and half productive, has been spread vertically, creating an interesting and vibrant mix. The program spills out also on various level, from the ground floor, to the productive shared terraces. Housing and working activities coexist. Each building offers, in different ways, flexible and innovative solutions for working and living. Shared functions and collective elements are a strong feature of each building, and can be used both by residents or workers.

4. Have you treated this issue previously? What were the reference projects that inspired yours?

The principles that we applied in Makers Neighbourhood have always been the background of our projects and our research. For example, one of the main guidelines of the project is to follow a strategy that encourages a strong network of social and community spaces. The requests for the site were very specific, and the productive vocation of the area was so strong, that every concept has been tailored to this particular area. The site itself and De Ceuvel have been the strongest reference, but we also got inspired by different projects. Cityplot Buiksloterham by Studioninedots, a project for a site next to Papaverdriehoek, has been taken into consideration because of its principle of circular economy that it is based on. The idea of stacking and mixing productive functions and housing in vertical has been another main thread of our project. In this sense MVRDV has been an inspiration, especially at the architectural scale.
 

5. Urban-architectural projects like the ones in Europan can only be implemented together with the actors through a negotiated process and in time. How did you consider this issue in your project?

We are aware of this issue and therefore we have approached the project with a very flexible masterplan which can be shaped and adapted, according to the different needs and problems that will arise between different actors during the process. We have provided an urban strategy that can be developed in three different phases: short term, middle term, and long term, which allow for the site to function while the plan is being gradually developed. 

6. Is it the first time you have been awarded a prize at Europan? How could this help you in your professional career?

Yes it is, and we are very proud and honoured. We see it as the first step for our team, and we are willing to start the process to transform our strategy into reality.