Happy ending

E14 winner Sofia Koutsenko about the follow up assignment in Amsterdam and opportunities in Rotterdam.

Sofia Koutsenko

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“We hope for a happy ending”, says architect Sofia Koutsenko. Together with Timur Shabaev and Timur Karimullin, the other two partners in their practice DROM, she was one of the winners of Europan 14 NL. Kristina Knauf and Masha Krasnova were also part of the team. Together they made a design proposal for the transformation of the so-called H-buurt, one of the sites in Amsterdam. “It’s quite a complex project, integrating a new development into an existing neighbourhood laden with a complicated past”, explains Sofia. For this blog we are curious why she participated and, of course, what the current state of the project is. Time for a few questions.

Why did you participate in Europan 14?
“Europan is a well-established competition. There are many applicants and the work we produce is judged on a high level, for example by relevant people that are involved in policy making as well as architects and urbanists. To us, winning means that our ideas are relevant and valued, and that our point of view is understood. Europan is a great opportunity to deal with a real site and to get something built. One of my partners, Timur Shabaev, had previously won 2 Europans. Together with Marco Galasso he won Europan 10 with a project for Emmen, which got built. However, his project for Europan 11 in Almere, wasn’t built due to the economic recession. Getting something built is not a given in the competition. There have to be right circumstances and the ability to effectively engage in the process.”

And how are things going in Amsterdam? Will your design for the H-buurt be realised?
“Since we won, the municipality of Amsterdam invited us to do a project of a masterplan for the competition site, but first they had to complete and approve a vision for the larger territory. While we waited to begin the project, the municipality invited us to present our Europan project to the different departments in the municipality and to the local community members in the H-buurt’s Hakfort-Huigenbos area, where our site is located. The municipality approved their vision just recently. And just a few days ago, we had our first meeting with the municipality’s project team, who will be working with us on the masterplan. As far as our design for the Europan is concerned, I think that it will probably change significantly. There are new requirements and new information to consider. But we hope to work with the municipality to keep key aspects of our idea.”

How have the meetings till now been going?
“The meetings have been constructive, with many questions being raised. We are a Dutch team, as our office is based in Rotterdam, but we are all expats. This means that we are not always familiar with the common way of communication and proceedings. We are learning as we go and are still clarifying what the expectations are. The support of the Europan NL board members with some tips in the process has also been great.”

Which key point of your proposal do you hope remains in the final masterplan?
“As the name of our project ‘Foam of production’ implies, the essence of our design is a porous urban structure. We wanted to introduce more flexibility and diverse use of space at the ground level to encourage productivity and exchange of ideas. After we won, it became clear that the municipality, community members, and some developers who have approached us, all have been very enthusiastic about this aspect. So, we hope it will be reflected in the final design. Also, we designed a community square with a temporary community building that could evolve into something more permanent. We think that the community centre will help to draw together a disparate community. As we understand, a new community centre is also in line with the intentions of the municipality.”

Are you hoping to receive any other assignments?
“It would be incredible if we could work on the design the community centre. One of the advantages of our proposal is that we can start right away with a temporary structure.”

Have you any idea how the other winning teams of Europan 14 NL are doing?
“We haven’t been in touch much with the other teams, but Timur Karimullin was at the Europan EU Forum in Brussels in November (2018), and spoke with a few of them there. Some of the teams whose project didn’t continue are getting a new assignment elsewhere in the city. By doing so the municipality sustains the idea that if you are an Europan winner you get to built something.”

Are you participating in Europan 15 NL this year?
“We think it’s amazing that this time the sites are at our doorstep. Also, Rotterdam has a good history of working with young designers, which is a good thing considering all Europan participants must be under 40 years old. However, right now we are very busy, and if we participate, we want to be able to invest the time needed. So, we still have to make the decision.”